Dr. Eric Lehr
, Heart Surgeon
Seattle, WA
- Unregistered Surgeon
Patient Recommendations (6)
"Dr. Lehr made it clear from the start that I would be a candidate for open heart surgery. He explained that in my case to do a full open heart surgery would be better because he can do more, do it better, in a shorter amount of time than a catheter or TAVR procedure. Since I was worried about the anesthesia I wanted less time under anesthesia and less radiation from the catheter procedure appealed to me as well.
Dr Lehr spoke with my family several times during the surgery My family was so appreciative of his skill and dedication. After surgery he was available to make sure I got what I needed. He listened to me and remembered my concerns. He addressed each one on my discharge paperwork I hope any of my friends and family that develop heart problems are able to have him as their surgeon."
Posted by Nikki Pelley, Mitral Valve, Tricuspid Valve, Valve Repair, Maze Procedure, Bloodless Surgery, 02/11/2022
"Dr. Lehr is a very careful, well prepared, skillful, caring, and very experienced cardiac surgeon. He performed an AVR on me which was my third AVR. He cautioned me that this would be a high risk surgery and coached me to gain weight and get stronger to lower the risk. He was very prepared to handle the possible side effects of my surgery and was very up front about letting me know what could happen.
He was able to minimize my time on the heart lung machine by opening up my chest first and then connecting the machine. He accomplished this by a very systematic procedure of deflating the lungs to drop the heart and lungs away from the rib cage. This was very important since i have ankylosing spondylitis which has compressed my chest. He then opened up the chest skin and pulled up on the wires of the previous surgeries to create a safe space for sawing the sternum using two passes of a triangular bladed saw. At this point he connected the heart lung machine. He removed the 19mm cow valve and all of the scar tissue from the previous two AVR's. This enabled him to install a 23mm On-X mechanical valve. The old valve was leaking so badly that it had a 40mmHg pressure drop across it and the new valve is a normal 7mmHg pressure drop. This enables the blood flow out of my heart to be 571% higher than it was before surgery! This has given me new life.
I was only on the heart lung machine for two and one-half hours which greatly decreased the possibility of damage to other organs. Because of his procedures, I was only 14 hours in the ICU and out of the hospital 5 days later and headed to a rehab treatment facility. My biggest challenge at that point was my ankylosing spondylitis and getting stronger.
I am very grateful to Dr. Lehr and the doctors and staff at Swedish Hospital, Cherry Hill for their skills and care."
Posted by Rodney Schein, Aortic Valve, Valve Repair, Median Sternotomy, 05/16/2017
"Wow! Dr. Lehr was called in for emergency aorta replacement. Rare and odd replacement here. He had to be creative on the fly for this one. What a great job. I had a blood clot functioning as a valve. He and the Swedish Hospital team cleaned it all up, and replaced with a mechanical. 9 hours in surgery. I am here to tell you about it. Before, during and after, Dr. Lehr and Swedish staff have been great. Really grateful to have been treated by them. Do - seek Dr. Lehr out if you have heart problems."
Posted by Larry Giddings, Aortic Valve, Valve Replacement, Root Replacement, 04/23/2016
"I experienced professionalism and excellent care from Dr. Lehr and his staff. Dr. Lehr explained everything prior to surgery and answered all of my questions. The surgery went smoothly and I am now healing slowly, but each day is better. I couldn't have asked for better or more professional care. Everyone was very attentive to my every need and was concerned on how I was doing. One of the best experiences I've had with a Dr. Lehr."
Posted by Suzanne Salviac, Mitral Valve, Valve Replacement, Maze Procedure, 04/25/2016
"Very pleased with my results and the care I received from Dr. Lehr. Looking forward to feeling better and doing the things I like to do."
Posted by Larry Logsdon, Aortic Valve, Valve Replacement, Root Replacement, 09/23/2014
"I have nothing but good things to say about Dr. Lehr. He took the time and made the effort to be sure I understood all my options, explained what procedures he would be using, and what I might expect.
He is easy to talk to and responsive to all questions. My surgery was more complicated than expected and involved not only replacement of my aortic valve, but wrapping and repairing my ascending aorta as well.
My recovery has been quick and virtually painless. I attribute much of this to his skill. Perhaps the best recommendation I can give is that if I were to require additional heart surgery, or any member of my family were, I'd go straight to Dr. Lehr."
Posted by Robert Spindel, Aortic Valve, 06/16/2014
