{"id":5986,"date":"2025-07-29T17:40:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T17:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=5986"},"modified":"2026-01-27T20:10:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:10:42","slug":"aortic-valve-repair-roselli-eric-md","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/aortic-valve-repair-roselli-eric-md\/","title":{"rendered":"Aortic Valve Repair: Where Are We Today?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/aortic-valve-disorder.php\">Aortic valve disorders<\/a> are complex. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to treatment. Surgical or transcatheter valve replacement is often the preferred treatment for many patients with severe aortic insufficiency because it is a more standardized approach. Unfortunately, bioprosthetic valves typically degenerate after 10 to 15 years and mechanical valves require lifelong anticoagulation therapy. Aortic valve repair can be a preferable long-term option for many patients with aortic valve regurgitation, despite its complexity and the need for specialized surgical expertise.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about surgical aortic valve repair as a viable patient option, Adam Pick, the aortic valve patient who started HeartValveSurgery.com, recently met with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Eric-Roselli-Cleveland-Ohio.php\">Dr. Eric Roselli<\/a>, Chief of Adult Cardiac Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Roselli has been at the Cleveland Clinic for over 25 years and has performed thousands of aortic valve procedures. When it comes to aortic valve repair, Dr. Roselli is a world-renowned expert who educates his patients and physicians about the long-term value of preserving the patient&#8217;s aortic valve tissue.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FSwb1wofdIY?rel=0&amp;si=JASDnxPDFz-RfA1U\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Advantages of Aortic Valve Repair<\/h2>\n<p>Here are the key insights shared by Dr. Roselli:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After performing thousands of aortic valve procedures, where are we today with aortic valve repair? \u201cAt these national meetings, we talk about cutting-edge stuff,\u201d said Dr. Roselli. \u201cAortic valve repair has been around for a while, and actually, a lot of this work was done at the Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Toby Cosgrove, who was one of the innovators in this space. We\u2019ve been slowly improving our understanding of repairing aortic valves over the last 20 or 30 years. It\u2019s a little more complex than repairing mitral valves, but the main objective is the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Eric-Roselli-Cleveland-Ohio.php\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/profileImages\/71_129_161.jpg?d=20241206\" alt=\"Dr. Eric Roselli\" width=\"129\" height=\"161\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Eric-Roselli-Cleveland-Ohio.php\">Dr. Eric Roselli<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Saving living tissue aids with healing and durability. \u201cWe want to save the living valve,\u201d said Dr. Roselli. \u201cThe aortic valve takes a beating, but if it\u2019s alive, it can heal itself from that daily wear and tear. Your heart beats 100,000 times a day, right? So if we can save a living one, that\u2019s awesome. The idea of an aortic valve repair is to get it back to a good mechanical state so it can handle the load conditions and then it can heal itself.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Valve repair is not for all patients with aortic valve disease. \u201cIt\u2019s not for everybody for two reasons,\u201d Dr. Roselli said. \u201cFirst, we have to have a healthy substrate to work with. One of the more common problems is aortic stenosis. If you have aortic stenosis, your valve will not be repairable because the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/valve-leaflets-calcified-heart-stenosis.php\">tissue is degenerated and calcified<\/a>. Back in the day, they would peel calcium off and clean the valve. They would get a repair that looked awesome at the end, but then it wore out in a couple of years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5993 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/calcified-aortic-valve-1.jpg\" alt=\"Calcified Aortic Valve\" width=\"650\" height=\"361\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Which patients are the best candidates for aortic valve repair? \u201cPeople with pure aortic regurgitation like those with bicuspid valves, some with tricuspid valves, many who have a dilated aortic root, and younger patients,\u201d said Dr. Roselli. \u201cIf the moving parts, the leaflets, are healthy tissue, and you have a surgeon who is adept at repair, it\u2019s kind of an artistic operation. More and more surgeons are learning the skills, and it\u2019s become the first choice over any replacement option because of this idea that we\u2019re saving the living valve.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Going into surgery, it is never certain that the valve will be repairable. \u201cI repair a ton of valves, and I always give patients a percentage chance of me being able to save the valve based on the imaging. I can have a sense of how repairable a valve is, but I never say it\u2019s 100 percent. I think I can repair any valve, but it\u2019s not about whether I can; it\u2019s whether I should. Sometimes, we get in there and, despite the imaging, we see that the tissue doesn\u2019t look like something we should be keeping because it\u2019s beat up and appears \u2018moth-eaten.\u2019 It\u2019s got to go.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5994 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/leaflet-deterioration-1.jpg\" alt=\"Aortic Leaflet Deterioration\" width=\"650\" height=\"362\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There have been many advances in aortic valve repair techniques. \u201cThe early techniques were just focused on the leaflets themselves,\u201d said Dr. Roselli. \u201cNow, there is a greater appreciation of how the aortic valve functions, which requires a stable structure of the entire aortic root. It\u2019s been exciting to learn and apply the repair to even more complex morphologies and patterns of disease. One thing is certain, you will need to be at a specialized center for that. If a center is doing one a month, ten a year, that\u2019s a pretty high volume. We do about 100 per year, repairing valves a couple times a week.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5995 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/aortic-valve-repair-drawing.jpg\" alt=\"Aortic Valve Repair Drawing\" width=\"650\" height=\"363\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is always a detailed plan before the surgery. \u201cWe go to the operating room like we have to make that game time decision when we get in there,\u201d said Dr. Roselli. \u201cWe always go in with a plan, which is important for patients to understand. We\u2019ll talk about all the different valve choices. Repair might be plan number one. But then we have Plan B, C, and D, because I can\u2019t wake you up in the middle of the operation to ask what you want. We will talk through that, and it\u2019s a good discussion. I think patients appreciate the whole idea about valve choice.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Roselli stressed that patients shouldn\u2019t get too overwhelmed. \u201cWhen going through the decision-making process, it may seem complicated. Don\u2019t get too overwhelmed by it. It\u2019s okay because all the choices are good. The most important thing about doing a valve operation is that you\u2019ve got a well-functioning valve at the end, which is good for your heart. If we take care of your heart by taking care of your valve, then it can last a lifespan or get you back on track to have a normal lifespan. It\u2019s about saving your heart, and we have many new options available to patients.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>HeartValveSurgery.com has become an excellent resource for patients. Dr. Roselli told Adam, \u201cIt\u2019s awesome what you provide with services like this. Patients often come to see us and are very knowledgeable. We have great discussions and can proceed together with a very clear plan of what we may encounter and how we will work through it.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks Dr. Roselli and the Cleveland Clinic!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of all the patients in our community, thank you, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Eric-Roselli-Cleveland-Ohio.php\">Dr. Eric Roselli<\/a>, for everything you and your team are doing at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio!<\/p>\n<p>Related links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/shared-decision-making-dr-eric-roselli\/\">Dr. Roselli\u2019s Aortic Valve Patient Success Story: Ari Mintzer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/videos\/valve-sparing-bicuspid\">Ask Dr. Roselli: The Advantages of Valve-Sparing Procedures for Bicuspid Aortic Valves<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2024\/06\/06\/henrik-lundqvist\/\">NHL Superstar, Henrik Lundqvist, Interviews Dr. Eric Roselli, His Heart Surgeon<\/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 patient community, we have provided a written transcript of our interview with Dr. Roselli below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"class_list":["post-5986","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-aortic-valve-repair"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5986","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5986"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6450,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5986\/revisions\/6450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}