{"id":22225,"date":"2017-08-10T14:09:03","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T19:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=22225"},"modified":"2026-01-10T10:18:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T15:18:57","slug":"tips-mitral-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2017\/08\/10\/tips-mitral-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Patient Tips For Great Mitral Valve Surgery Results"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a big fan of simple and thoughtful advice for patients. So, when I learned about this new study, “Relation of Mitral Valve Surgery Volume to Repair Rate, Durability & Survival”, in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, I wanted to share it with our community.<\/p>\n

The study, which is featured at Consumer Reports<\/a>, reveals that patients who chose surgeons with deep experience in performing a complex mitral valve procedure have a better chance of living longer and not needing additional procedures to correct the problem.<\/p>\n

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The lead author of the study, Dr. Joanna Chikwe<\/a>, stated, “The very high volume surgeons tended to have outstanding outcomes”.<\/p>\n

I think one of the most interesting points of this study focuses on the average number of mitral valve procedures performed annually by surgeons. Get this… The median number of mitral valve procedures performed by the surgeons studied was only 10 operations per year. \u00a0That’s it. \u00a0And, most importantly, those patients whose surgeons performed at least 25 surgeries per year had much higher survival rates and fewer complications, the study found.<\/p>\n

In talking with many patients, nurses, cardiologists, and surgeons over the years, the concept of volume has come up several times. \u00a0It makes sense. \u00a0The more you do something… The better you do it. That said, this point should not be lost.<\/p>\n

In this video, Dr. Steve Bolling<\/a>, the Director of the Mitral Valve Program at the University of Michigan Health System, and I discuss this very important point about mitral valve repair surgery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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