Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog – Page 2

[Update: Our patient webinar with Penn Medicine was fantastic!!! To access the video playback of the webinar, please click here.]

I’m excited to announce that our LIVE and FREE patient education events continue this Thursday, January 18, with a special webinar, “Advances in Robotic Heart Valve Surgery”. Featured speakers include Dr. Pavan Atluri, Director of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Cardiac Surgery, and Dr. Michael Ibrahim, Director of Reconstructive Valve Surgery, at Penn Medicine. The one-hour webinar will start at 7pm EST.

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The HeartValveSurgery.com website started in 2006. That said, many patients in our community now need heart valve re-operations due to worn-out heart valve replacement devices and/or failing heart valve repairs. As a result, I am receiving many interesting questions from patients as they prepare for their second and third re-operation.

For example, I just received an email from Mitrina who asks, “Hi Adam – As a two-time open-heart surgery patient and a registered nurse, I am finding it very challenging to gather information for a third operation. My questions are “How frequent are third open-heart surgeries?”,  “What are the success rates?”, and “Does having a pacemaker have an impact on the success/failure of a third surgery?  You should also know that, prior to my last surgery, I was told that my valve is too small to qualify for a TAVR and have an acceptable quality of life. What am I up against so I can plan accordingly?”

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As many of you know… I became friends with Dr. Eric Roselli, the Chief of Adult Cardiac Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, in the 1990s at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

That said, it was great to see Dr. Roselli in Houston on Monday when our Michigan Wolverines beat the Washington Huskies to become national college football champions for the first time since 1997. Woo-Hooo!!!

Dr. Roselli and Me

 
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I just received a very interesting and insightful email from Laura Holt about the symptoms, the progression, the diagnostic tests and the dangers of aortic stenosis. Considering that aortic stenosis is often under-diagnosed and under-treated, I wanted to share Laura’s experience with our community.

Laura Holt – Aortic Stenosis Patient

 
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Unbelievable!  Thanks to my wife, Robyn, and my son, Ethan, I was just reminded that today, December 21, 2023, is my 18th anniversary from heart valve surgery.

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[Friday, December 15, 2023 Update: With over 1,000 patient responses in just a few days, our Bicuspid Aortic Valve Patient Survey is now complete. Thanks so much to all the wonderful patients in our community who shared their experiences specific to the diagnosis and treatment of bicuspid aortic valves.]

Hi Patients,

Can I ask you for a quick favor? To help future patients, I want to learn more about the experiences of bicuspid aortic valve patients.

That said, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts if you currently have a bicuspid aortic valve or if you previously had a bicuspid aortic valve operation.

In advance, thanks so much for your help!

I really appreciate it!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

As we have discussed many times at this blog, heart valve disease is under-diagnosed and under-treated.  In fact, leading physicians that specialize in the treatment of aortic stenosis, a narrow aortic valve, often refer to this disease as a “silent killer”.  As you can read in this article, “The Aortic Stenosis Danger Zone Is Here”, one of those physicians is Dr. Michael Mack, who is the Medical Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery for Baylor Scott & White Health (BSW) and the Chairman of BSW The Heart Hospital – Plano Research Center.

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Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the “Controversies and Advances in the Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease Symposium” in Los Angeles, California.  This annual conference was organized by Dr. Raj Makkar and hosted by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Dr. Raj Makkar & Me

 
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I am happy to share that Mohammed, a courageous 14-year-old boy from Uganda who suffered from severe mitral valve regurgitation, just had successful heart surgery.

As you might recall, the HeartValveSurgery.com community sponsored Mohammed’s life-saving cardiac surgery at the Uganda Heart Institute. That said, I am especially thankful this Thanksgiving holiday for your support of Mohammed and his family. To learn about Mohammed’s journey to a healthy heart, click here.

Our 5th Child Saved!

This is the fifth time since starting HeartValveSurgery.com that we have sponsored a life-saving cardiac surgery for a child with heart disease. Amazing! Thank you!

Here are links to the children we have previously helped:

• Johann from the Philippines
• Baby Alfred from Nigeria
• Traver from Uganda
• Victor from El Salvador

Keep on tickin’ Mohammed!  I hope to meet you someday!
Adam

With Thanksgiving upon us, it was great to receive this note from Susan about her health, her three sons and her cow valve.

Susan Ward (Heart Valve Patient) With Her Children

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Dear Patients & Friends,

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Today, I am reminded of a quote from Norman Vincent Peale who shared, “The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.”

On behalf of Robyn, my wife, and Ethan, our 14-year old son, we are so thankful for all the wonderful members of our community! That means you!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Adam

In our ongoing discussion about stroke risk associated with transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), I just received a great question from Joel.  In his email, Joel writes, “Hi Adam, I have had aortic stenosis for about 3 years. My cardiologist sent me to see a surgeon last week. I also had a stroke about 3 years ago in addition to a heart attack about 30 years ago. I watched a video of yours with Dr. Marc Gerdisch about stroke risk. My question is, ‘Am I a good TAVR candidate being that I already had a stroke?'”

 
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Hi Everybody,

Great news! I wanted to share a quick website update that just went live.  As you may know, there are over 20,000 pages of content at HeartValveSurgery.com.  We are always posting new educational information including articles, patient stories, technology updates and much more.

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For the first time since COVID, I was very excited to attend the 2023 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapies (TCT) conference this week. TCT was founded by Dr. Martin Leon in 1988 and has become an incredible, worldwide event designed to advance minimally-invasive cardiac interventions like transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). This wonderful symposium, which gathered over 10,000 medical professionals, provides an interactive and collaborative environment to foster education and late-breaking science.

 
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As you may know… Bono, the lead singer of U2, recently shared that he had heart valve and aortic aneurysm surgery performed by Dr. David Adams at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.  You may also know that I am a huuuuuuuuuge U2 fan.

So, when U2 announced “Achtung Baby”, their 40-show residency at the new MGM Sphere in Las Vegas, I needed to go.

U2 Performing at MGM Sphere (Las Vegas)

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I just received a great question from Betty who asks, “Hi Adam, I know you had heart valve surgery over 10 years ago. I’m curious to know if you still get echocardiograms?”

The answer? Yes… Even though it’s been nearly 18 years since I had a Ross Procedure performed by Dr. Vaughn Starnes at Keck Medicine of USC, there is one thing I do every, single year.

That’s right. I always get an annual echocardiogram.  In fact, I just had my yearly echocardiogram last week as you can see and hear below. There’s two reasons for this.  First, I want to make sure my heart, heart valves and aorta are doing great.  Second, Dr. Starnes and Dr. Ram Dandilaya, my cardiologist, both recommend it.

Steve Arriaga (Echocardiogram Technician) and Me

 
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I just received a GREAT question from Fred about patient prosthesis mismatch. Fred asked me, “Hi Adam – I need an aortic valve replacement and I have been reading about prosthesis mismatch. What, if anything, can I do to avoid this complication?”

To provide Fred an expert answer to his question, I just interviewed Dr. Douglas Johnston, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. During his extraordinary career, Dr. Johnston has performed over 3,000 heart valve operations. Click here to see my interview with Dr. Johnston about Patient Prosthesis Mismatch.

Many thanks to Dr. Doug Johnston for educating our patient community about the patient prosthesis mismatch!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

Aortic stenosis is a life-threatening disease that is under-diagnosed and under-treated. In fact, the survival rate is just 50% at two years for patients diagnosed with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis. To make matters worse, only 3.4% of patients that receive non-invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) are Hispanic.

How and why is Medtronic, a leading manufacturer of TAVR devices, taking big steps to treat more Hispanic patients like Mrs. Julia Garcia? Click this link to find out.

 
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In case you missed the breaking news… Juwan Howard, Michigan basketball coach and former NBA all-star, just announced that he had successful aortic valve and aneurysm surgery by Dr. Himanshu Patel at University of Michigan Health in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Click here to learn the details of Juwan Howard’s aortic valve and aneurysm heart surgery. 

Many thanks to Dr. Himanshu Patel and the University of Michigan Health System for taking such great care of Juwan Howard.

Keep on tickin’ Juwan!
Adam

Lee just asked me, “Hi Adam – I’ve had three aortic valve replacements and valve repair plus an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. All functions are good currently, but AFib persists 3.2% of the time. After oral surgery and a ruptured vein causing a hematoma, I had to defer Eliquis to control bleeding. My current cardiologist thinks I should consider the Watchman procedure as a safety measure. What have you heard about that procedure?”

Click here to get the answer to Lee’s question from Dr. Marc Gerdisch, a world renowned surgeon who has performed over 4,000 heart valve surgeries.

Many thanks to Dr. Gerdisch for educating our patient community the Watchman, atrial fibrillation and heart valve disease.

Keep on tickin!
Adam