Mike's Profile

I had a bicuspid aortic valve from birth. In 2000, at only 26 years old I had open heart surgery to replace it with a St Jude mechanical valve. That has lasted 23 years but now there is enough scar tissue under the valve that the pressure across the valve is causing some intolerance to exercise and ventricular hypertrophy. The current plan is to get a tissue valve, along with replacement of the ascending aorta and the Cox-Maze IV procedure in August 2023.