Valves
Okay, buddy, you’ve done a great job beating every minute of every day for this guy’s 80+ years. Time to take a break, I got this - Barbara Dehn
image by: VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System
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Replacing a Heart Valve Without Opening the Heart
Imagine two experienced surgeons working side by side to replace a calcified, stenotic and tired aortic valve within a man’s heart without ever having to cut into the heart muscle. Imagine also, that unlike what was available in the past, this patient will not have to endure having his sternum or ribs broken to gain access to the heart that’s been pumping continuously, lub dub, lub dub, lub dub for over eight decades.
In fact, let’s stretch our imaginations and envision that this man’s heart will not even be stopped. Instead, it will be rapidly paced with a wire placed through a thin catheter placed in his neck vein. At the same time, another wire is threaded carefully up from his…
Resources
A Revolution for Heart Valve Jobs
A sudden outbreak of teamwork among doctors could boost healthcare performance.
Artificial Valves That Lend Hearts a Helping Hand
For the past five decades, artificial heart-valve designs have evolved to successfully replace natural valves, which often begin to leak or harden over time.
Building a Better Valve
A new approach to replacing narrowed heart valves allows older and sicker patients to survive treatment.
Clot Risk Is Seen in Some Heart Valves
The FDA and cardiologists warn about animal tissue devices that have been widely used for decades.
Engineering heart valves for the many
Next-generation heart valve accurately functions upon implantation and regenerates into long-lasting heart-like tissue.
Heart valve study raises implant concerns
Doctors have discovered a potential problem involving implanted heart valves that hundreds of thousands of people have received - they don't always open and close properly, possibly because a blood clot has formed that could raise the risk of stroke.
Is A Biological Heart Valve or Mechanical Heart Valve Right For You?
Today we can pick a variety of heart valve prostheses from our surgical supply shelves. They come in different sizes and designs to fit the individual patients’ needs. The main disadvantage is that patients who received a mechanical valve will have to take blood thinners for the rest of their lives to prevent the formation of dangerous blood clots. This is a necessary and important therapy because normal blood tends to form clots when it is in contact with an artificial surface.
New Heart Valves Prove We're Living In The Future
These new valves still have significant technical problems to overcome. The good thing about technical problems, though, is that they are solve-able. And the idea of replacing a valve in a much less invasive manner looks as if it really is on the right side of history.
Open-Heart Surgery Devices Putting Patients at Risk
“Available information suggests that patients who had valves or prosthetic products implanted are at higher risk of these infections,” the CDC said in a statement.
Replacing a Heart Valve Without Opening the Heart
It’s almost unbelievable, in the past, replacing the aortic valve meant a long recovery of at least 9 -12 months before a person felt like themselves again, yet this man got a new valve in a few hours from a catheter passed up through his leg.
Types of Replacement Heart Valves
A human donor valve is the least common choice and it’s most often used for someone who is suffering from an illness that affects the valve, such as infective endocarditis. A donor valve can be expected to last 10-20 years.
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