Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog – Page 43

When I created Heart Valve Journals, I didn’t know if anyone would actually use it. Now, a few years later, I am amazed at how patients and caregivers are using this social network to support each other through heart valve surgery.

Case in point… I just learned that Nancy Friedman — who is from St. Louis, Missouri — and Jeff Shebovksy — who is from Windermere, Florida — recently met in Orlando, Florida after seeing each other online at Heart Valve Journals. Nancy and Jeff are preparing for aortic valve replacement surgery.

Nancy Friedman & Jeff Shebovsky

Here’s the fun part… Take a guess what Nancy and Jeff did when they met?

As shown in the picture above, they offered Mitch Friedman, who is just getting out of the ICU, an encouraging “Thumbs Up!” picture. Mitch had aortic valve replacement last week in New York. Nancy, Jeff and Mitch all met on Heart Valve Journals.

Now… Take a guess how Mitch responded to Nancy and Jeff?

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Hey everybody,

I just learned that Doctor Marc Gillinov, MD, staff surgeon at The Cleveland Clinic and author of Heart 411, will be hosting a complimentary web chat this Friday at 12pm (EST). During this 60-minute session, you can ask Dr. Gillinov your questions about heart valve disease, heart valve repair and heart valve replacement surgery.

If you are preparing or recovering from heart valve surgery, I encourage you to participate in this event. In the past, Dr. Gillinov’s web chats have received glowing reviews from our patient and caregiver community.

Keep on tickin!
Adam

Each time I meet a cardiac surgeon with a “Chief”, “Chairman” or “Director” in front of their name, I feel extraordinarily humble. I know those titles are not easy to attain. I know these physicians have spent their entire lives learning, researching and teaching about cardiac care. Lastly, I know these doctors have spent thousands of hours in the operating room pursuing surgical perfection, always innovating to improve patient outcomes.

For example… Consider the career of Dr. Alfredo Trento, the Chairman of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. During his 30-year career, Dr. Trento has performed over 7,500 cardiac procedures of which 4,000 operations included valvular treatment.

Dr. Alfredo Trento – Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

As a result of his clinical experience and innovative approach to cardiac care, Doctor Trento has published over 150 research papers and has been featured in over 300 scientific journals. To better understand the professional and personal story of Dr. Trento, I encourage to watch this fascinating video with Florence Henderson, one of Dr. Trento’s heart valve surgery patients.

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Doug sent me a great question about his options for mitral valve repair surgery. In his email, Doug wrote, “I have severe mitral regurgitation and I need surgery.  I’m considering two surgeons…  One surgeon uses the robot and the other surgeon does not.  Which is a better choice for me?”

To provide Doug an expert opinion, I met with Dr. Steven Bolling, the Director of the Mitral Valve Program at the University of Michigan. During our discussion, Dr. Bolling, who has performed over 3,800 mitral valve operations, offered great insight and research for Doug to consider. Here are the video highlights from our chat.

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Since launching this blog 5 years ago, I have only recommended one book about cardiac care.

Today, I am thrilled to increase my book recommendations by 100% with an emphatic endorsement of “Heart 411” by Dr. Marc Gillinov and Dr. Steven Nissen. This 550-page guide to heart health is packed with helpful facts, practical guidance and patient stories that will definitely help the 82 million Americans that are diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.

What I enjoyed most about the book was the pace at which Dr. Marc Gillinov and Dr. Steven Nissen intertwined research, evidence and data along with their own clinical experiences that stretch across 50 years of medical practice and 10,000 patients. To learn more about Dr. Gillinov, click here.

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Over the past few months, many patients and caregivers in our community have been fortunate to meet Kelly Nugent and Mitch Friedman at Heart Valve Journals, our social network.

As Kelly and Mitch prepared for heart valve surgery due to aortic valve regurgitation and mitral valve regurgitation, they openly shared their experiences, thoughts, feelings and emotions about their pursuit of healthy hearts.

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Earlier this week, the 48th annual Society of Thoracic Surgeons Meeting (STS) was held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During the meeting, cardiac surgeons from around the world gather to discuss the latest strategies for optimal cardiac treatment — including heart valve repair and heart valve replacement procedures.

As our patient and caregiver community is fascinated by medical advances impacting heart valve surgery, I thought you might be interested to learn about a new study released at STS specific to the SAPIEN transcatheter aortic valve replacement device. The SAPIEN, which is manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences, is positioned in the heart using a minimally invasive catheter.

Here are the most recent findings about the SAPIEN’s clinical performance in 822 “inoperable patients” who suffered from severe aortic valve stenosis and received this aortic valve replacement device transapically — through the ribs:

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Following our last post about watchful waiting for patients with moderate heart valve disease, I received several emails from asymptomatic patients. While each email was unique, most patients were curious to know if patients without symptoms should undergo heart valve repair and heart valve replacement procedures — for conditions including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation.

Luckily, during my recent tour of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, I was fortunate to discuss this topic with Dr. Richard Lee, an associate professor of cardiac surgery. The video below contains the highlights of our discussion. (For the hearing impaired members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of this video below.)

Thanks to Dr. Richard Lee for taking the time to share his clinical expertise with our community. To learn more about Dr. Lee, please click here.

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I just had a very interesting conversation with Paul about the progression of aortic stenosis and the timing of heart valve replacement surgery.

During our chat, Paul asked, “Adam – I am 71 and have been diagnosed with aortic stenosis for over 10 years now. Recently, the disease progressed from mild to moderate. My cardiologist does not believe surgery is needed yet. I don’t want the stenosis to become ‘severe’ knowing the damage it can cause. Why am I being told to wait for surgery? Thanks, Paul”

Paul asked a great question. That said, I wanted to provide Paul a great answer.

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I’m amazed by how fast Heart Valve Journals, our social network for patients and caregivers, continues to grow. I’m also very touched by the stories shared within this caring community.

As you may have seen, we always select one patient to be our “Featured Patient” within the community. That said, I would like to introduce you to Mitch Friedman, our current “Featured Patient”.

I could tell you all about Mitch and his upcoming heart valve surgery planned for February 2, 2012 . Instead, I’ll simply encourage you to click this link to learn about Mitch’s pursuit of a healthy heart.

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After I was diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis and regurgitation, I chose the Ross Procedure for my heart valve replacement surgery. While this approach to aortic valve replacement is more complex, I found the benefits of this procedure outweighed the risks. (To learn more about the Ross Procedure, click here.)

Since launching this website, I have become familiar with a handful of surgeons who are considered Ross Procedure gurus. In particular, Dr. Paul Stelzer, from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, is widely regarded as one of the most experienced Ross Procedure surgeons in the United States.

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During my research for my book and this website, I have been fortunate to meet several incredible surgeons. Dr. Marc Gillinov is one such surgeon.

I first heard the name “Dr. Marc Gillinov” from his former patients. One after the other, my inbox filled up with glowing testimonials for Dr. Gillinov. His patients used words like friendly, excellent, caring and outstanding to describe the Judith Dion Pyle Chair in Heart Valve Research at The Cleveland Clinic.

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During the past twelve months, this global community of patients and caregivers actively discussed many topics that have impacted our heart valve surgery experiences. As the year winds down, I thought it might be helpful to review all of these posts and highlight the top 10 stories that garnered the most attention during 2011.

So, without further ado, here are your “Top 10 Heart Valve Surgery Blogs of 2011”:

10. Much of our ongoing discussions focus on the proper management of patient expectations before, during and after surgery. To to help Denise prepare for her mitral valve repair surgery, we answered her question, “Do All Patients Get A Cardiac Catheterization Prior To Heart Valve Surgery?”. With over 25 comments from our community, this post was very helpful to Denise and many other patients preparing for surgery.

9. An interesting question from Alice about the recovery from heart valve surgery also generated a significant amount of traffic. In “What Are Those BIG Heart Shape Pillows Used For?”, Dr. Eric Roselli offered some clinical insights about these humongous, red pillows given to patients after surgery.

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Interestingly… The importance of today’s date escaped me until a few minutes ago.

That is when I saw “December 21” on my calendar. I then eased my shoulders, took a deep breath and smiled. So you know, six years ago, at this exact moment, my heart valve surgery had just begun.

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Like many of you, I’m fascinated by the possibilities of medical technology.

Specific to heart valve treatment, I continue to talk with many patients, caregivers, physicians and industry experts about catheter-based technologies for heart valve repair and heart valve replacement. Recently, the frequency of those conversations has increased. So, to make sure you are aware of the latest news about transcatheter valve devices, here are some interesting updates.

• St. Jude Medical announced the first implant of the Portico aortic valve implant via catheter in its European clinical trial. This trial will support St. Jude’s effort to win CE Mark approval for commercial use in Europe. The trial is specifically designed for patients with severe aortic stenosis (narrow heart valve) who are considered too high risk for traditional open heart valve replacement through the sternum or ribs.

Portico Aortic Valve Replacement (St. Jude Medical)

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As the year winds down, I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very happy holidays!

I also wanted to thank you for your ongoing participation in this unique community. This has been an incredible year for this project. So you know, this website had over one million visits during 2011. Needless to say, that is a clear testament to the empowering ways in which we continue to help each other through the experience of heart valve surgery.

On behalf of Robyn, my wife, and Ethan, my son, “Happy Holidays!” and “Happy New Year!”

Keep on tickin’ in 2012!
Adam

Receiving updates from former patients is a great way to start the day. That said, I just heard from Sylvia Woolworth. You might recall that Sylvia, 76, had aortic valve replacement two years ago. (To learn more about aortic valve replacement, click here.)

As you can read in her last update, Sylvia took several steps to physically and mentally prepare for her heart valve surgery. Recently, I learned that Sylvia, who lives in New Jersey, has a fun tradition during the winter holidays… Sylvia takes on the fun role of playing “Mrs. Claus” at holiday events.

Sylvia “Mrs. Claus” Woolworth

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I just spent some time at Heart Valve Journals, our social network for patients and caregivers going through heart valve surgery.

While there, I noticed that Sarah Harnett, from Michigan, and Steve Regouby, from Oklahoma, are getting their heart valves fixed today.

As Sarah wrote in her journal this morning, “Shortly I’ll leave for the hospital. Thanks for so many for the encouraging words on the blog and in cards, on the phone and in person.”

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As a double heart valve surgery patient, I found Janelle’s recent question very interesting.

She wrote, “Hi Adam – Almost everything I read on the internet deals with a singular leaking heart valve.  At age 64, I was just diagnosed with three valves that are leaking: the aortic valve, the mitral valve and tricuspid valve.  I have shortness of breath and I am also lightheaded at times.  I am curious to know, what are the chances that someone with three leaking valves can still have a healthy heart?”

To get an expert opinion for Janelle, I recently discussed this topic with Doctor Patrick McCarthy, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Here are the highlights from our discussion.

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I recently received a great question about bicuspid aortic valve repair. The patient wrote to me, “Adam – I have a bicuspid aortic valve and a dilated aorta.  I think I need an aortic valve replacement and an aortic root replacement.  I’m curious.  Is it possible to get a bicuspid aortic valve repair instead of having it replaced?”

During my recent tour of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, I was fortunate to ask this exact question to Dr. S. Chris Malaisrie, a cardiac surgeon who specializes in aortic valve treatment. Here are the highlights of our discussion. (For those patients and caregivers in our community who are hearing impaired, I have provided a written transcript below.)

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