Karate Instructor, John Doss, Recovers After Heart Valve Surgery

By Adam Pick on August 18, 2009

Here's a great patient success story about John Doss, a 56-year old Karate instructor from Michigan. Doctor Ali Kafi, Chief of Clinical Cardiothoracic Surgery, from Detroit Medical Center, performed the aortic valve replacement.

During the video (which is no longer available), Dr. Ali Kafi references the use of a mini-sternotomy. To give you a visual comparison of a mini-sternotomy incision versus a full sternotomy scar, please consider the pictures below. The first picture shows a patient with a mini-sternotomy.

Mini-Sternotomy incision scar

The second picture shows a patient (that's me) one week after double heart valve replacement. Due to the complex nature of my Ross Procedure, Dr. Starnes was forced to use a median sternotomy. As you can see, there is about a five-inch difference in the size of the incision site.

Patient with median sternotomy scar

Also, Dr. Kafi referenced some interesting concepts about heart valve surgery in the video about John Doss. To learn more, simply click any of the hyperlinks below:

Keep on tickin!
Adam

Written by Adam Pick
Patient & Website Founder

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

Follow 450K

Comments

New Posts From Our Community

John M. Berner - Heart Valve Patient

John M. Berner from
Golden Valley, Mn

Greetings Adam. I fully appreciate the value of your blog. I've...

Meet John M.
Richard Hines - Heart Valve Patient

Richard Hines from
Houston

Has anyone out there had a CRT-D implanted following heart surgery?

Meet Richard
Sandra Lilly - Heart Valve Patient

Sandra Lilly from
Yorktown

Surgery to repair the aortic root aneuryism is scheduled for Dec...

Meet Sandra

Newest Community Post

John M. Berner - Heart Valve Patient

John M. Berner from
Golden Valley, Mn

Greetings Adam. I fully appreciate the value of your blog. I've...

Meet John M.
Find Heart Valve Surgeons

Find Heart Valve Surgeons

Search 1,500 patient-recommended surgeons

The Patient's Guide

The Patient's Guide

This book has helped over 47,000 patients and caregivers from diagnosis to recovery.

Heart Hospital Map

Heart Hospital Map

Search for heart hospitals that specialize in heart valve treatment.