{"id":1354,"date":"2021-07-27T00:08:46","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T00:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=1354"},"modified":"2025-05-29T21:15:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T21:15:34","slug":"life-expectancy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/life-expectancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Expectancy &#038; Heart Valve Disease: What Should Patients Know?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Heart valve disease can be debilitating and life-threatening for patients diagnosed with severe valvular disorders including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation. Thankfully, there are\u00a0surgical and transcatheter procedures to treat this insidious disease that kills 25,000+ people annually in the United States alone.<\/p>\n<p>To learn how heart valve operations extend the life and quality-of-life of patients, we interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Joanna-Chikwe-Los+Angeles-California.php\">Dr. Joanna Chikwe<\/a>, Chair of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.\u00a0 As you may know, Dr. Chikwe has dedicated her career to the research and the treatment of valvular disease using minimally-invasive techniques.\u00a0 At HeartValveSurgery.com, Dr. Chikwe has successfully treated many patients in our community including Wendy Spector, Mark Kimball and Sophie Arguello.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7NB3OvUXrGk?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings About Life Expectancy &amp; Heart Valve Disease from Dr. Chikwe<\/h2>\n<p>Here are the key learnings from Dr. Chikwe&#8217;s interview about life expectancy and heart valve disease.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Chikwe has dedicated her career to the research and treatment of heart valve disease using minimally-invasive techniques. Dr. Chikwe has performed over 2,000 cardiac procedures of which most included heart valve repair and heart valve replacement operations.\u00a0 Dr. Chikwe&#8217;s research has focused on aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve disease.<\/li>\n<li>The two main types of heart valve disease include stenosis (a tight or narrow valve) and regurgitation (a leaking valve).\u00a0 Both stenosis and regurgitation impact the flow of blood through the heart and body.\u00a0 Ultimately, stenosis and regurgitation can lead to heart damage, heart failure and death.<\/li>\n<li>The symptoms of heart valve disease include feeling winded, breathless, fatigued, occasional chest pain, dizzy and fainting.\u00a0 Patients with severe heart valve disease can be asymptomatic which is critical for patients to understand. As Dr. Chikwe states, &#8220;Patients can be asymptomatic even though they have severe valve disease. That\u2019s important because we\u2019re not doing surgery to make those patients feel better. You might be able to get through five sets of tennis. How are we going to improve on that? We\u2019re trying to improve on that by making sure you live longer and you live without major problems like stroke, atrial fibrillation, or heart failure.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>While severe heart valve disease is fatal, most types of valvular disorders can be treated safely and effectively.<\/li>\n<li>For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-symptoms-leaking.php\">mitral valve regurgitation<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/mitral-valve-repair-dr-joanna-chikwe\/\">mitral valve repair surgery<\/a> will bring the patient back to a &#8220;near normal&#8221; or &#8220;normal&#8221; life expectancy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/Images\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-diagram_3.jpg\" alt=\"Mitral Valve Regurgitation Diagram\" width=\"300\" height=\"265\" \/>Mitral Regurgitation<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/aortic-stenosis-valve-heart-narrowing.php\">aortic valve stenosis<\/a>, an aortic valve replacement is a very common procedure.\u00a0 Replacements are a great option that include a tissue valve or a mechanical valve. Tissue valves typically last 8 to 10 years in younger patients and 12-15 years in older patients. Generally, patients who receive a tissue valve do not require the use of blood thinners.\u00a0 If an aortic valve replacement wears out, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/tavr-procedure.php\/\">TAVR<\/a> could be used during a non-invasive &#8220;valve-in-valve&#8221; procedure that would not require an incision to the patient&#8217;s chest or ribs. A mechanical valve replacement could last many decades. However, patients require a blood thinner to reduce the risk of strokes on the mechanical valve.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/Images\/aortic-stenosis-comparison-normal2.jpg\" alt=\"Aortic Valve Stenosis\" width=\"600\" height=\"535\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For aortic valve repair, there is variant data about life expectancy. However, Dr. Chikwe believes that if the patient has aortic regurgitation, a patient may want to consider finding a skilled surgeon to perform an aortic valve repair.<\/li>\n<li>When Dr. Chikwe is planning surgery for a patient with heart valve disease, she always considers any additional cardiac conditions the patient may have including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/atrial-fibrillation\/\">atrial fibrillation<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/coronary-artery-disease.php\">coronary artery disease<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/aortic-aneurysm.php\">aortic aneurysms<\/a>. These are called comorbidities.<\/li>\n<li>It is important to understand that complications may occur after a heart surgery.\u00a0 A common complication that Dr. Chikwe often sees is atrial fibrillation. Given the risks of atrial fibrillation, Dr. Chikwe and her team aggressively correct an abnormal heart rhythm in the hospital after heart valve surgery.<\/li>\n<li>The number of surgical re-operations is decreasing for patients.\u00a0 Transcatheter techniques (TAVR, TMVR, TMVr) are providing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/interventional-cardiologist\/finder.php\">interventional cardiologists<\/a> and surgeons an opportunity to fix a heart valve without an incision to the patient&#8217;s chest or ribs. However, it is very important that patients seek out a specialized cardiac center that focuses on complex re-operations using either surgical or transcatheter approaches.<\/li>\n<li>The biggest &#8220;stumbling block&#8221; specific to life expectancy and heart valve disease is that patients are not aware of the benefits of a repair versus a replacement.\u00a0 The stumbling block for patients is finding the right surgical team to perform a safe and effective heart valve repair that can provide the patient the best chance at a long and healthy life. Here is a video in which Dr. Chikwe address the benefits and different approaches of mitral valve repair procedures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/puppIZmk0Yg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks Dr. Chikwe &amp; Cedars-Sinai!!!<\/h2>\n<p>Many thanks to Dr. Chikwe for taking the time to educate our patient community about life expectancy and heart valve disease. We also want to thank the entire Cedars-Sinai team for taking such great care of patients from the HeartValveSurgery.com community!<\/p>\n<p>Related Links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Joanna-Chikwe-Los+Angeles-California.php\">See Dr. Chikwe&#8217;s Interactive Surgeon Profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/mitral-valve-repair-dr-joanna-chikwe\/\">Mitral Valve Repair: Different Approaches for Different Patients with Dr. Chikwe<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/go-red-women-dr-joanna-chikwe\/\">Dr. Chikwe Answers Female Patient Questions About Heart Surgery<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the hearing impaired members of our community, we have provided a written transcript of this interview with Dr. Chikwe below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"class_list":["post-1354","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-adams-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5827,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1354\/revisions\/5827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}