{"id":2796,"date":"2022-10-20T19:46:01","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T19:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=2796"},"modified":"2026-01-09T19:21:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:21:23","slug":"dacron-aorta-graft-kevin-accola-md","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/dacron-aorta-graft-kevin-accola-md\/","title":{"rendered":"Surgeon Q&#038;A: Can Dacron Aorta Grafts Calcify After Bicuspid Aortic Valve Repair Surgery?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We just received fascinating questions from Nikki, the mother of a heart valve surgery patient. Nikki wrote to me, &#8220;Hi, Adam. My son had a bicuspid aortic valve repair and an aneurysm repair with a Dacron graft. Will this graft last forever or does it eventually calcify? Will he eventually require another operation during his lifetime?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To provide Nikki an expert response, I connected with Dr. Kevin Accola, a leading cardiac surgeon at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/florida-hospital-cardiovascular-institute-valve-microsite\">AdventHealth<\/a> in Orlando, Florida. During his incredible career, Dr. Accola has performed over 14,000 cardiac procedures with more than 8,000 operations involving heart valve repair and replacement therapies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SfNpW44fLVU?rel=0\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings About Dacron Aorta Grafts<\/h2>\n<p>Here are several important learnings from our discussion with Dr. Accola:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Patient questions about calcification are typically specific to heart valves.\u00a0 Dr. Accola states, &#8220;This is a great question because we talk a lot about the valve procedure itself and its longevity. But, I\u2019ve got to say not too many people inquire about the graft &#8211; which is a very valid point.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Kevin-Accola-Orlando-Florida.php\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/profileImages\/148_129_157.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Kevin Accola\" width=\"129\" height=\"157\" \/><\/a>Dr. Kevin Accola (Heart Surgeon)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aorta grafts are made from synthetic materials which facilitate the flow of blood through the body.\u00a0 A graft is often used to repair or replace a section of the aorta which may bulge or swell. This is called an aneurysm and can be a life-threatening defect if the aorta is tears or dissects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2805 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/aorta-aortic-graft-calcification.jpg\" alt=\"Dacron Aorta Graft\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>While a Dacon graft may fibrose (form fibrous tissue), it is rare that the graft will calcify. &#8220;Sometimes it does calcify, but really, in very unusual circumstance,&#8221; states Dr. Accola. &#8220;Typically, it creates a fibrosis within the graft or around the graft itself. Rarely is calcification a problem or a concern in these patients who\u2019ve had a Dacron graft replacing an aorta.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>In response to Nikki&#8217;s follow-up question about whether her son may need a reoperation following his bicuspid aortic valve repair, Dr. Accola suggested that there is no specific answer to that question. There is longevity variability of the valve depending on the surgical technique, valve anatomy, valve structure and leaflet mobility. However, should the valve become stenotic or regurgitant, there is a possibility that a reoperation may be needed in the future.<\/li>\n<li>Considering that a bicuspid aortic valve is genetic, Dr. Accola suggests that the child&#8217;s sibling should be screened for this valvular defect.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Accola&#8217;s advice for Nikki is to ensure that her son gets regular annual echocardiograms to monitor his aortic valve repair and cardiac function. &#8220;My recommendation of going forward is Nikki\u2019s son needs to be followed up annually at least with an echocardiogram and an exam by their physician just to be sure that there\u2019s no changes in the valve, that it\u2019s gotten thickened or fibrotic or leaking valve,&#8221; states Dr. Accola.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks Dr. Accola &amp; AdventHealth<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of our patient community, many thanks to Dr. Kevin Accola for taking the time to share his clinical research and experience with us.\u00a0 In addition, we would like to thank the entire AdventHealth team for taking such great care of the patients from HeartValveSurgery.com.<\/p>\n<p>Related Link:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/florida-hospital-cardiovascular-institute-valve-microsite\">Discover the AdventHealth Heart Valve Microsite<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the deaf and hard of hearing members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of Dr. Accola&#8217;s interview 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":[3],"class_list":["post-2796","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-aneurysms"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2796","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=2796"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6398,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2796\/revisions\/6398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}