{"id":3142,"date":"2023-03-22T00:02:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T00:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=3142"},"modified":"2025-06-06T12:23:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T12:23:39","slug":"tricuspid-forgotten-ailawadi-gorav-md","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/tricuspid-forgotten-ailawadi-gorav-md\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Insights: The Tricuspid Valve Is Not The &#8220;Forgotten Valve&#8221; Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, the tricuspid valve has been referred to as the &#8220;forgotten valve&#8221;.\u00a0 However, at the recent 59th Annual Society of Thoracic Surgeons Conference, I learned that new research and new medical devices are enhancing physician awareness and treatment of this neglected valvular defect.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The exciting thing about the tricuspid valve is that it is quite the opposite of the forgotten valve,&#8221; shared Dr. Gorav Ailawadi.\u00a0 Why did Dr. Ailawadi make this statement? What should patients know about the challenges and the opportunities of tricuspid valve therapy?\u00a0 Get answers to these questions and more in this special interview with Dr. Ailawadi.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PdAFBYqvlXw?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings About Tricuspid Valve Disease<\/h2>\n<p>Here are key learnings shared by Dr. Ailawadi about tricuspid valve disease and its treatment:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tricuspid valve disease patients are often asymptomatic which can make the diagnosis difficult.\u00a0 &#8220;The problem with the tricuspid valve is patients often times don&#8217;t have symptoms, or their symptoms are very subtle, like being fatigued or having some swelling in their legs,&#8221; states Dr. Ailawadi. &#8220;It&#8217;s not until the heart gets much weaker that they present with more significant symptoms. At that time, sometimes it&#8217;s too late to offer anything.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Gorav-Ailawadi-Ann+Arbor-Michigan.php\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3147\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/gorav-ailawadi-heart-valve.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Gorav Ailawadi\" width=\"300\" height=\"379\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nDr. Gorav Ailawadi<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is often additional risk for treating the tricuspid valve. &#8220;The treatment has only been tricuspid valve surgery. Unfortunately on paper, most patients have a high mortality risk,&#8221; states Dr. Ailawadi. &#8220;It&#8217;s not because it&#8217;s hard to get to the tricuspid valve but rather, it&#8217;s a sign that the right side of the heart is very weak, which affects the liver, the kidneys, and the other organs.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>The right side of the heart is more sensitive than the left side of the heart. &#8220;The right side of the heart is so much more sensitive,&#8221; states Dr. Ailawadi. &#8220;If you think about the left side of the heart, it&#8217;s like a balloon that you buy from the store. You blow up, and it has immediate recoil when you release it. The right side of the heart, you blow up the balloon, you let it sit in the sun for a week, and you try to release the air. It has no recoil.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3145 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/tricuspid-valve-transcatheter-devices.jpg\" alt=\"Tricuspid Valve Transcatheter Devices\" width=\"650\" height=\"364\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are several new medical devices &#8211; including transcatheter therapies &#8211; that are currently being tested or in clinical trials for the treatment of tricuspid valve disease. &#8220;The exciting thing about the tricuspid valve, it is quite the opposite in terms of the forgotten valve,&#8221; states Dr. Ailawadi.\u00a0 &#8220;There are so many different devices that are being tested. Many are in trials to replace the tricuspid valve or repair the tricuspid valve essentially to try to help these patients that are so ill and frail have a better quality of life.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>According to Dr. Ailawadi, patients with tricuspid valve disease may not have a heart murmur.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Ailawadi&#8217;s advice for patients is to be proactive. &#8220;The way patients may find out about it tricuspid valve disease is if they have a lot of swelling that needs to be treated, or they just feel really fatigued. Certainly, patient should try to get an echo and find out about how the heart is functioning, how the valves are functioning,&#8221; states Dr. Ailawadi. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2023\/02\/03\/tricuspid-pacemaker-icd-ailawadi\/\">Patients that have had a pacemaker<\/a>, they have a much higher chance of having a leaking tricuspid valve, so those patients should absolutely be on the lookout. Ultimately, if you see a report that your tricuspid valve is leaking, talk to your doctor about it. Ask for a referral if you need.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks Dr. Ailawadi &amp; Michigan Medicine!<\/h2>\n<p>Many thanks to Dr. Gorav Ailawadi for taking the time to share his clinical experiences and new research with our patient community.\u00a0 As I have received many patient questions about tricuspid valve disease, it was great to learn about how physicians and medical companies are coming together to help tricuspid valve patients.<\/p>\n<p>Related Links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OIMOPPG9sKA\">Patient Webinar: Advances in Tricuspid Valve Therapy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2023\/02\/03\/tricuspid-pacemaker-icd-ailawadi\/\">Surgeon Q&amp;A: What About Tricsupid Valve Surgery for Patients with Pacemakers?<\/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 my interview with Dr. Ailawadi 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":[18],"class_list":["post-3142","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-tricuspid-valve"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3142","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=3142"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5879,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3142\/revisions\/5879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}