{"id":25528,"date":"2018-08-29T12:42:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T17:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=25528"},"modified":"2020-11-27T11:26:26","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T16:26:26","slug":"ross-procedure-research-study-advantages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2018\/08\/29\/ross-procedure-research-study-advantages\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Update:  Are There Advantages of the Ross Procedure?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first time I heard about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/ross-procedure.php\">Ross Procedure<\/a> I was skeptical. My first thought was, &#8220;What???!!! \u00a0You want to play musical chairs with my heart valves? \u00a0No way!!!&#8221; \u00a0Then, the more I learned about this unique procedure for patients with aortic valve disease, I started thinking, &#8220;Hmmm. \u00a0That might be the operation for me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/Images\/ross-procedure-aortic-valve-replacement.gif\" width=\"350\" height=\"371\" \/>Ross Procedure Diagram<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In the Ross Procedure, the patient&#8217;s pulmonary valve is &#8220;switched&#8221; to the aortic position. \u00a0Then, a donor valve is placed in then the pulmonary position.<\/p>\n<p>It took me awhile but I slowly started to understood the potential advantages of the Ross Procedure. First, I would get to keep my own valve. That&#8217;s great. Second, I wouldn&#8217;t need to be on blood thinners for the rest of my life. Another bonus considering I&#8217;m an active guy. Third, if I needed a future valve re-operation there is a good chance that procedure could be performed using a catheter. As we have seen together, some transcatheter valve devices are now available.<\/p>\n<p>So, 12 years ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Vaughn-Starnes-Los+Angeles-California.php\">Dr. Vaughn Starnes<\/a> performed the Ross Procedure on me at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/usc-heart-valve-clinic-starnes\">USC Medical Center<\/a> in Los Angeles. Since then, I have had no problems with either of my valves.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YUXt7h0a5z4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly&#8230; When I tell people about the Ross Procedure, I get a lot of confused stares and\/or raised eyebrows. Some patients have no interest in a double heart valve surgery. I get that. Others are concerned by the extremely complex nature of this surgery. I get that too. Also, many people guarantee me that my valves are destined to fail.<\/p>\n<p>There is no doubt that the Ross Procedure is not for everyone. But, for me, the Ross Procedure has worked out pretty darn good.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>New Research Study About The Ross Procedure<\/h2>\n<p>Yesterday&#8230; As I scrolled through a feed about heart valve surgery, I learned new information about the Ross Procedure. So, I wanted to quickly share the research with our community. \u00a0According to a new study published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cardiovascularbusiness.com\/topics\/structural-congenital-heart-disease\/ross-procedure-survival-younger-valve-replacement\">JAMA Cardiology<\/a> and presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress, the Ross Procedure provides a survival benefit when compared to mechanical aortic valve replacement in young and middle-aged patients. \u00a0 Here are some key points from the research during a 5.8 year follow-up:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Patients receiving the Ross Procedure were 46% less like to die of any cause.<\/li>\n<li>Patients were 74% less likely to suffer a stroke.<\/li>\n<li>Patients were 83% less like to experience major bleeding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The meta analysis also showed significant improvements on a quality-of-life score compared to patients receiving mechanical valves and a 58% reduction in valve- or heart-related mortality.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>It&#8217;s Not All Roses for the Ross Procedure<\/h2>\n<p>At the same time, the study also showed that 76% of patients were more likely to require another valve surgery during follow-up. \u00a0That data point definitely caught my eye as a potential red flag for patients considering the Ross Procedure.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on this, Sir Magdi Yacoub, a leading heart surgeon in Europe, noted, \u201cThe causes of reoperation are largely preventable and, when they occur, can be treated by modern percutaneous approaches or low-risk reoperation in a center with experienced practitioners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/magdy-yacoub-procedure-ross.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"354\" \/>Sir Magdi Yacoub<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Once again, I think this story elevates a common theme for patients needing a heart valve replacement procedure.\u00a0 That theme is that there is no &#8220;perfect valve&#8221;. \u00a0There are pros and cons to just about every type of heart valve replacement. \u00a0That said, I encourage all patients to do their homework and select the right valve, the right procedure, and the right medical team for you!!!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zz_QmKMhPDs\">Watch &#8220;Advantages of the Ross Procedure&#8221; webinar.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/ross-procedure.php\">Learn more about the Ross Procedure.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ross-procedure"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25528"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32542,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25528\/revisions\/32542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}