{"id":32596,"date":"2020-12-14T20:10:03","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T01:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=32596"},"modified":"2025-07-09T10:55:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:55:47","slug":"bicuspid-aortic-valve-leaking-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2020\/12\/14\/bicuspid-aortic-valve-leaking-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"Is That Really Jeff’s Bicuspid Aortic Valve?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t know about you… But, when I was first diagnosed with severe heart valve disease, I had no idea what a heart valve looked like.\u00a0 I really didn’t even know what my heart valves did.\u00a0 All I knew was that I was diagnosed with a heart murmur<\/a> when I was five years old. That’s about it.<\/p>\n

The more I researched my disease and my treatment options, the more I became fascinated by heart valve structures, function and disfunction.\u00a0 It turned out that I had a bicuspid aortic valve<\/a>.\u00a0 Two of my aortic valve flaps (or cusps) had fused together during pregnancy.\u00a0 While a normal aortic valve is tricuspid, with three valve cusps, I was born with two. That’s why it’s called a bicuspid valve.\u00a0As a result, my aortic valve suffered from both aortic stenosis (a narrow valve)<\/a> and aortic regurgitation (a leaky valve)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"HeartJeff (Bicuspid Aortic Valve Patient)<\/p>\n

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Now… If you’re as curious as I am, I thought you might like to see what Jeff recently posted at his heart valve journal.<\/p>\n

First off, you should know that Jeff just had a successful aortic valve replacement surgery<\/a> by Dr. Katherine Harrington at Baylor Scott & White Health in Plano, Texas.\u00a0 Second, you should know that Jeff is doing well after his procedure. Wooo-Whoo! Go Jeff!!!<\/p>\n

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\"Dr.<\/a>Dr. Katherine Harrington<\/a><\/p>\n

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Thanks to Dr. Harrington and Jeff, I was amazed to see this picture posted at Jeff’s heart valve journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"CalcifiedJeff’s Diseased Bicuspid Aortic Valve<\/p>\n

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Yes, that is Jeff’s bicuspid aortic valve after it was removed from his heart.<\/p>\n

Pretty amazing, right?<\/p>\n

And, pretty darn small too.<\/p>\n

So you know, this was not Jeff’s first heart surgery. As Jeff posted:<\/p>\n

At age 5, I was diagnosed with a coarctation of my aorta and had it surgically repaired. Several years later, at age 42, I developed PVCs and was diagnosed with a severely leaking bicuspid aortic valve and a re-narrowing at my coarctation repair site. I am now 49 and scheduled for another aortic valve replacement\/repair. Within the last month, I also had a stent placed in my coarctation site via catheter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Thanks Jeff & Dr. Harrington!<\/h2>\n

Many thanks to Jeff for sharing this fantastic picture of his bicuspid aortic valve. And, many thanks to Dr. Harrington<\/a> and the entire team at Baylor Scott & White Health The Heart Hospital Baylor – Plano<\/a> for taking such great care of Jeff!<\/p>\n

Related Links:<\/p>\n