Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog – Page 9

I just had an insightful conversation with Leila Saeid, a mom, wife and dentist in Southern California, about her recovery from minimally-invasive heart valve surgery. We were also joined by Leila’s surgeon, Dr. Joanna Chikwe, the Chair of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

To watch this special interview with Leila and Dr. Chikwe, please click here.

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I am very happy to announce that Dr. Vaughn Starnes, my surgeon, just became the sixth doctor to receive 100 patient reviews at HeartValveSurgery.com!

This is a wonderful milestone as Dr. Starnes and his team at Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, California has successfully treated so many patients in our community with valvular diseases including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation.

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Survivor is one of my favorite television shows. I have watched most, if not all, of the episodes during the past forty-two seasons. I love everything about the show that many consider the “original” reality tv series.

Luckily, Robyn, my wife, and Ethan, my son, enjoy Survivor as well. When we recently watched the first episode of Survivor 43, Robyn shouted out, “Stop! Did you see that?”, when the show introduced a new contestant.

I looked at Robyn and said, “What? I missed it.” I then hit rewind. There, on the screen, I saw the name “Mike Gabler”. Next to his name, we saw the words, “Heart Valve Specialist”.

 
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I’ve received several patient questions about whether-or-not I got the bivalent COVID-19 booster.  As you can see in the picture below, the answer to that question is yes.

 
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Artivion has stopped the PROACT Xa Clinical Trial evaluating the safety-and-effectiveness of the On-X mechanical valve with apixaban as a blood thinner to prevent clotting.  The PROACT Xa clinical trial was designed to evaluate whether patients could safely receive an On-X mechanical valve without the lifelong monitoring requirements of warfain, the only approved blood thinner for mechanical valves.

On-X Aortic Mechanical Heart Valve

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The patient stories in our community just keep getting better-and-better.

For example, a huge smile just crossed my face as I opened this email from Ginny Turner, a mitral valve patient.  Here is what Ginny wrote to Dr. Marc Gillinov, her surgeon, and me:

Hi Dr. Gillinov and Adam,

Look what happened yesterday at a quaint lunch spot just outside of Austin, Texas!

Lisa, Randy and Ginny (Heart Valve Patients)

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I just received a great question from Rich about mitral valve surgery.  In his email, Rich asks, “Hi Adam, I’m a 63-year-old male who competes in natural bodybuilding. Three years ago, I had a mechanical aortic valve replacement. Now, I have severe mitral regurgitation with mild atrium dilation. I have only mild symptoms such as an occasional palpitation. Can I get the mitral valve repaired with a robotic procedure, or is the MitraClip the protocol given my risk factor?”

To provide Rich an expert response, I contacted Dr. Joanna Chikwe, the Chair of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, who specializes in mitral valve surgery. As you may know, Dr. Chikwe has performed many successful mitral valve operations on patients in our community including Wendy Spector, Leila Saedi and Scott Wallace.

 
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I just received several interesting questions from Leslie about unicuspid aortic valves. She emailed me, “Hi Adam – What can you tell me about unicuspid aortic valves? How are they treated? Are they genetic? If so, should I have my family screened?”

To answer Leslie’s questions about this valvular defect in which the aortic valve has only one leaflet, I was lucky to interview Dr. Samuel Pollock, a leading cardiac surgeon at Baptist Health Louisville, who has performed over 12,000 cardiac procedures.

Click here to watch my interview with Dr. Pollock about unicuspid aortic valves. 

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Wow! Double Wow! Triple Wow!

Are you ready to learn how new radiopaque markers help medical teams perform non-invasive, valve-in-valve operations under x-ray with no incision to the patient’s chest or ribs?

Click here to see our exclusive interview with Dr. Jason Rogers, Clinical Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and the Director of Interventional Cardiology at UC Davis Health.

 
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The patient success stories in our community are downright wonderful.  For example, I just received this inspirational email from Lilian Pena of the Philippines which reads:

Hello Adam, I am so grateful that I found your website and can interact with patients from all over the world in the community section.  So you know, I suffered from anxiety the moment I discovered that I needed to undergo open heart surgery.  Now, I am 6 months post-op after a double mechanical valve replacement.  I received two mechanical heart valves from St. Jude Medical (which is now Abbott).

Lilian Two Weeks After Surgery

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In case you missed it… I just posted a very interesting interview transcript with Dr. Samir Kapadia, Chairman of Cardiology at Cleveland Clinic.

Click here to read “Heart Valve Clinical Trials: What Should Patients Know?”.

Many thanks to Dr. Samir Kapadia for sharing his clinical experiences and research with our community. I also want thank Cleveland Clinic for taking such great care of our patients.

Keep on tickin!
Adam

This is way off-topic… But, hopefully helpful and maybe even fun!

Like many parts of the planet, this summer has been really hot in Southern California where I live. Recently, however, Robyn (my wife), Ethan (my son), and I decided to brave the heat and go to Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

Dole Whip at Disneyland

 
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I am very excited to announce that Baptist Health Louisville just became the newest sponsor of HeartValveSurgery.com.

 
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My inbox is getting lots of excellent patient questions about the durability of next-generation biological heart valve replacements. As you may know… During the past 10 years, biological heart valves, also known as tissue valves, have benefitted from a series of design innovations.

To learn how these medical and technological advances have impacted the durability of biological heart valve replacements, I just interviewed Dr. Ibrahim Sultan, the Surgical Director of the Center for Heart Valve Disease at UPMC in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Click here to watch, “Heart Valve Insights: Durability of Heart Valve Replacements”.

Many thanks to Dr. Ibrahim Sultan for sharing his clinical insights and research with our patient community. I would also like to thank the entire UPMC team for taking great care of heart valve patients!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

It is VERY common for patients diagnosed with heart valve disease to feel alone, confused and frustrated. I can personally remember those and other emotions when my cardiologist said to me, “You need a new heart valve. And, you need it soon.”

As I learned about the safe-and-effective treatment options for my bicuspid aortic valve, my fear began to transform into something much more positive. In particular, I became inspired by many patient success stories that I found online. 

Speaking of inspiration, I wanted to share this story about Dexter, an extraordinary dog from Colorado. As you will see, Dexter exemplifies the cliche, “It’s not how many times you get knocked down that counts. But, how many times you get back up.”

Thanks for the inspiration Dexter!!! You truly turned a lemon into lemonade!!!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

I just received a fantastic question from Sara, a Ross Procedure patient, in response to an article about endocarditis and heart valve disease featuring comments from Dr. David Kaczorowski, a leading cardiac surgeon from UPMC.  Her question is about the statement, “If you have an acquired valve disease, artificial heart valve, congenital heart disease, or have a history of valvular disease, monitoring your health for endocarditis symptoms is especially important.”

 
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Patients with leaking aortic valves and aortic aneurysms are often confused about the treatment options available to them.  To learn more about the different therapies available to these patients, we were very fortunate to film a “Surgeon Roundtable” with Dr. Eric Roselli and Dr. Marijan Koprivanac of the Cleveland Clinic.   In this video, Drs. Roselli and Koprivanac, two leading cardiac surgeons who specialize in aortic valve surgery, share valuable insights specific to Valve Sparing Aortic Root Replacement and the Bentall Procedure.

Click here to watch “Surgeon Roundtable: Aortic Root Surgery for Aortic Valve Patients”.

Many thanks to Dr. Roselli and Dr. Koprivanac for sharing their clinical insights and research with our patient community. I would also like to thank the entire Cleveland Clinic team for taking such great care of heart valve patients!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

Since launching HeartValveSurgery.com in 2006, I’ve received many patient questions about getting life insurance after heart surgery.  I have also learned the struggles and challenges that patients can experience trying to get life insurance after a heart valve repair or a heart valve replacement operation.

For these reasons, I am very excited to share that Gordon Conwell, a heart surgery patient from our community, has offered his excellent services to help you get life insurance following heart valve surgery.

Gordon Conwell (Heart Valve Patient & Life Insurance Agent)

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I recently jumped on a Zoom with Desmond, a 33-year-old patient from Ireland who was just diagnosed with a dilated aortic root. Given the life-threatening concerns of aortic aneurysms, Desmond had several important questions. One of those questions was, “Will my dilated aortic root progress to need surgery?”

Dr. Luis Castro & Desmond

To provide Desmond an expert opinion, I was very lucky to interview Dr. Luis Castro, the Medical Director of Cardiac Surgery at Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, California, about this very sensitive topic. As you may know, Dr. Castro is a long-time supporter of this website who has successfully treated over 190 heart valve patients from our community. Here is Dr. Castro’s response to Desmond’s question:
 
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For patients diagnosed with endocarditis, a dangerous infection that can cause severe heart valve disease, I just posted a new article, Endocarditis: Top 7 Facts People Should Know.  In this article, Dr. David Kaczorowski, Surgical Director of the UPMC Heart Transplant Program, provides several insights to help patients in our community.

Click here to read our new article about endocarditis and heart valve disease.

Keep on tickin!
Adam