Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

Hey Everybody,

After posting my video, “Patient Insights: Unwrapping A Cardiac Surgery Outcomes Report”, I received a bunch of great feedback from the heart valve patients in our community.

One of the questions from patients was, “How can I access the Cardiac Surgery Outcomes Reports managed by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS).  It’s a great question with a very simple answer.  Click here to access the Cardiac Surgery Outcomes Reports from the STS.

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I am very excited to announce that St. Elizabeth Healthcare just became the newest sponsor of HeartValveSurgery.com!

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This is really important for all the patients and the care partners in our community…

I just posted a new educational video about the importance of using “Cardiac Surgery Outcomes Reports” when choosing a surgeon or hospital for heart valve treatment.  As you will see in this video, I “un-wrap” a cardiac surgery outcomes report to reveal critical insights for a leading cardiac center.

Click here to see me “un-wrap” a cardiac surgery outcomes report.

Keep on tickin,
Adam

Hey everybody!

We just posted a new educational video with new medical insights and research about the use of minimally-invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for the treatment of severe aortic stenosis.  The video features Dr. G. Michael Deeb, who is the Inaugural Herbert Sloan Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Michigan Health in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  As you may know, Dr. Deeb is an aortic valve expert that specializes in TAVR which requires no incision to the patient’s chest or ribs.

Click here to see the new video about TAVR with Dr. Deeb.

Keep on tickin,
Adam

Wonderful news!!!

For the 6th time, I am happy to share that our community just sponsored a life-saving cardiac surgery for a child with heart valve disease.

 
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[June 28, 2024 Update: Thanks to the extraordinary response from the HeartValveSurgery.com community, the Women’s Aortic Stenosis Patient survey is now closed.]

To the Wonderful Women of the HeartValveSurgery.com Community,

Can I ask you for a quick favor? To help future patients, I want to learn more about the experiences of women who currently have aortic stenosis or previously had an aortic valve operation to treat aortic stenosis. That said, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts! Already, over 700 women have taken the survey!

In advance, thanks so much for your help!

I really appreciate it!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

In case you missed it… We just posted a new educational video all about the symptoms, the risks and the treatment of aortic stenosis.  The video features Dr. Ashish Aneja who is a leading cardiologist and aortic valve specialist at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio.

Click here to see the new video about aortic stenosis symptoms, risks and treatment. 

Keep on tickin,
Adam

Henrik Lundqvist, the NHL superstar goalie of the New York Rangers, is doing an extraordinary job raising awareness to heart valve disease and aortic aneurysms.

 
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Woo-Hoo!!! Amazing!!! Wonderful!!!

I am beyond excited to share that Dr. Patrick McCarthy, the Executive Director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Medicine, just received his 200th patient testimonial at HeartValveSurgery.com.

 
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Big News!

We recently had a very special opportunity to interview Dr. Michael Reardon, the Co-Principal Investigator of the Medtronic Evolut Low-Risk TAVR Clinical Trial, while at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) Conference in San Francisco, California. My chat with Dr. Reardon was specifically about the 4-year clinical trial results for the minimally-invasive Medtronic transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure in low-risk patients.

To learn new findings and research from the Medtronic Evolut Low-Risk TAVR Clinical Trial, click here to see my interview with Dr. Reardon.

Many thanks to Dr. Reardon for sharing his clinical experiences and research specific to the Medtronic TAVR procedure with our community.

Related Links:

• Learn about the Medtronic TAVR Procedure
• Research 50 Heart Teams that specialize in TAVR

Keep on tickin!
Adam

Amazing!

Our recent webinar, “Ask Dr. Gerdisch Anything”, brought together patients from all over the world for a live and very interactive educational event that featured Dr. Marc Gerdisch, a world-renowned heart surgeon from Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, Indiana. During his extraordinary career, Dr. Gerdisch has performed over 4,000 heart valve operations.

In case you missed the live webinar, here is a video replay…

Thanks Dr. Gerdisch & Franciscan Health!

On behalf of our patient community, I would like to extend a tremendous thank you to Dr. Gerdisch for sharing his research and clinical experiences specific to heart valve disease management and treatment!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

[May 23, 2024 Update: Our patient webinar, “Ask Dr. Gerdisch Anything”, was an extraordinary success. To watch a video replay of the webinar, please click this link.]

For this reason, we are hosting a special FREE and LIVE webinar that will provide you a unique opportunity to ask your questions to Dr. Marc Gerdisch, a world-renowned heart surgeon and Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Franciscan Health, who has performed over 4,000 heart valve operations. Dr. Gerdisch specializes in minimally-invasive surgery, rapid recovery protocols for patients, and clinical trial research.

Over 500 patients have already registered for the webinar! More good news…  If you have not registered yet, you can still join us for this special community event.

This is going to be great!

Keep on tickin,
Adam

Hearing from patients about their heart valve success stories is my favorite part of running the HeartValveSurgery.com community.

For example, here is the fantastic patient story of Koert Takkunen, a 52-year bicuspid aortic valve and aortic aneurysm patient from El Dorado Hills, California (which is just outside of Sacramento).

Koert Takkunen and Dr. Paul Stelzer at Mount Sinai Hospital

 
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At the recent American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) meeting, Dr. Marc Gerdisch presented new findings for the long-term safety of the On-X mechanical aortic valve at a low International Normalized Ratio (INR).  INR is a standardized method to assess the degree of anticoagulation in the blood.  This is critical for patients who receive mechanical valve replacements as they require lifelong anticoagulation (e.g. use of blood thinners) to prevent clotting which could lead to a stroke.

To help our patient community better understand the important implications of this study about the On-X mechanical valve replacements, I asked Dr. Gerdisch to share the highlights.

On-X Mechanical Aortic Valve (Source: Artivion)

 
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It’s not every day that I get invited to participate in a historic patient advocacy effort for women’s heart health.  So, when I learned about the first-ever Women’s Heart Health Congressional Day organized by WomenHeart, Women As One and Medtronic, I quickly booked a flight to Washington, DC.

 
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Wonderful news!!! I am excited to announce that Hartford HealthCare from Hartford, Connecticut just became the newest sponsor of HeartValveSurgery.com.

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Congratulations to Andy Dial, a Ross Procedure patient from Pullayup, Washington and member of the HeartValveSurgery.com, for the wonderful release of his new video, “Heart Warrior”.  I am touched, moved and inspired by Andy’s patient advocacy efforts to drive awareness to the Ross Procedure, Dr. Christopher Burke, his surgeon, and the medical team at UW Medicine Heart Institute that helped save Andy’s life.

If you have yet to see Andy’s new video, here it is…

On behalf of our entire community, many thanks to Andy for sharing his heart surgery journey in this video.  And, many thanks to Ryan Miller, the producer of Heart Warrior, for doing such an incredible job on this video. Lastly, many thanks to Dr. Christopher Burke and UW Medicine for taking such great care of Andy!

Related links:

• Send Andy a message here
• Ross Procedure: 10+ Facts to Know
• Meet Dr. Christopher Burke: Andy’s Heart Surgeon

Keep on tickin’ Andy!
Adam

Aortic valve stenosis is deadly and under-treated form of heart valve disease.  So, to continue my mission of patient education and patient empowerment, I am happy to share that we just launched a new “Aortic Stenosis & TAVR Patient Education Center” at HeartValveSurgery.com. 

Thanks to the support of world-renowned aortic valve experts, including Drs. Aneja, Deeb, Grubb and Reardon, this new platform provides the latest medical insights specific to the dangerous risks, the debilitating symptoms, surgical therapies, and the minimally-invasive treatment of aortic stenosis using the Medtronic TAVR procedure.

Click here to experience the new Aortic Stenosis & TAVR Patient Education Center.

 
On behalf of our patient community, many thanks to Dr. Ashish Aneja, Dr. G. Michael Deeb, Dr. Kendra Grubb, Dr. Michael Reardon and the entire Structural Heart Team at Medtronic for supporting this global educational initiative.

Keep on tickin!
Adam

I just received a great question from William about the Ross Procedure, an advanced form of aortic valve replacement that moves the patient’s pulmonary valve into the aortic position.

A Wrapped Pulmonary Valve Used During Ross Procedure

 
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I’ve said it before and I look forward to saying it again…

Hearing from patients about their heart valve success stories remains my favorite part of running this website.  For example, here is a fantastic patient story from Lynn Friedman who overcame a very complex form severe mitral regurgitation thanks to Dr. Joanna Chikwe, Dr. Dominic Emerson and the entire team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Lynn Friedman With Jim, Her Husband

 
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