“What Happens To My Pericardium During Heart Valve Surgery?” Asks Bernie

Bernie, be prepared for a very keen awareness of your heatbeat post surgery, a result of the absence of the pericardium.

Hi Adam,
Thanks for the ‘always-informative’ blog discussions!

I was wondering if the pericardium eventually closes up if the surgeon leaves it open and how long that takes? Do patients with open pericardiums have more risk of infection?

Thank you!
Debby T (future mv repair patient)

I had to deal with a tamponade episode 2 weeks after valve replacement. Read what happened here http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2008/10/03/bicuspid-valve-replacement-tamponade-and-heart-failure-adventure/
Best of luck to you.

Jim

I have been dealing with ?A-Fib (or) sinus arrythemia and an elevated blood pressure and in my 3 1/3 month recovery. I am going to cardiac rehab also. Is this a normal thing, anybody else having this problem?

Sharon, I suffered from PACs & PVCs for a good while (longer than 3 months) after my operation. It is important to know if it is truly a-fib, or some other type of arrhythmia. My doctor finally switched my medication from a beta blocker to a calcium channel blocker, which has been much more effective in dealing with the rhythm disturbance.

Hi Sharon,

I had mitral valve replacement surgery back at the beginning of March. I developed an arrhythmia with accompanying tachycardia that my cardiologist diagnosed as an “Atrial Flutter” a couple of months back, which may be similar to the problem you described, but without the accompanying rise in blood pressure. He put me on Amiodarone, 200mg once a day but after a few weeks with no result, doubled the dose to 200mg twice a day. Another 4 weeks later, still no satisfactory result.

The next step is going to be electrocardioversion, which I have scheduled for this Thursday. They are going to shock my heart (literally) with the paddles, or pads, depending on doctor’s preference. Someone is actually going to say, “Clear!” just like the movies, though I have been assured that they use a much smaller shock than the one that would be required to start a heart. I have read up online about the procedure and even seen a couple of videos. I am going to stop watching at this point. There is only so much I really want to know…

I developed pericarditis the 3rd day after my surgery for a bovine aortal valve replacement. My cardiologist explained that the pericardium is best left unstitched and then, in the healing process, sometimes the open edges can flap around. Surprisingly the cure for this condition was simple. I just had to take 400 mg of ibuprofen 3 times a day for ten days and the symptoms went away. It was scary while it happened, however, because I felt like my heart was thumping harder and irregularly during those episodes. The cardiologist explained that for awhile after surgery the heart is actually a little loose in there, and if you lie on your left side it shifts position which makes you feel an awful thump. After the pericarditis healed, lying on my left side is no longer a problem.
Terry Chase

I was told a couple of weeks ago by my cardiologist that I’ve progressed to severe stenosis (from my bicuspid aortic valve). I am supposedly asymptomatic (although I am tired during the day and when I rest, I sometimes feel that someone has their hands on my chest). Not sure if the stress or worrying is causing this sensation at night (as I tend to work through my worries), or if this is part of the disease process. Is it better to wait to do the heart valve replacement surgery or do it earlier?

Sue, from what I understand, even patients with severe stenosis can wait on the surgery, providing that you heart’s ejection fraction is satisfactory (at least 50%), and that your heart has not become enlarged because of the extra work load. But if you wait, it is imperative that you get an echo every six months or so to make sure everything is still holding steady. Good luck! (My situation is similar to yours, except that my problem is regurgitation instead of stenosis. The waiting game can be trying on your nerves!)

Love all this info

Adam:
I don’t know how to start a new question topic, so I’m tagging it to this one.
Is the mitral valve easier to reach than the aortal valve? I’ve noticed that the procedures listing minimally invasive surgical (MIS) procedures greatly outnumber the MIS procedures for the aortal valve. I also noticed comments by some physicians that said things like, this procedure works best on men with thin chests, or something like that.
My own surgeon told me that if you’re a big person with a larger rib cage (like barrel-chested people)they pretty much have to do a full sternotomy to get at the aortal valve. Or maybe he just meant women who are a bit overweight! 🙂
Do you have any further information on this? Are MIS mitral valve procedures more common than aortal valve MIS procedures?
Terry Chase

I HAD OPEN HEART SURGERY MARCH 2009 FOR REPAIR OF MITRAL VALVE PROLAPSE AND A HEART MURMUR. I HAD NUMBNESS IN MY LEFT BREAST FOR A LONG PERIOD. FOR THE PASS COUPLE OF DAYS I HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING PAIN IN MY LEFT BREAST ESPECIALLY WHEN PRESSURE IS APPLIED BY LEANING ON MY LEFT HAND/ARM. NOT SURE IF THIS IS CAUSED BY AA PULLED MUSCLE OR SOMETHING ELSE. ANYONE HAS ANY THOUGHT WHY THIS MAY BE?

Terry,

On the subject of pericarditis, I too developed pericarditis a couple of weeks ago. I was short of breath, my muscles burned and my ankles swelled up like grapefruits. This was particularly distressing because all of these symptoms showed up during a South American cruise. The swelling happened on the plane home. I had never had edema before. During the flight from Lima, Peru to Los Angeles, I developed sharp, intermittent chest pains, just above my heart. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I entered my front door. All I could manage to do was to run to a chair and collapse.

All of these symptoms combined convinced me to call my doctor who told me “You’re in trouble. You need to get to an emergency room right away – do not pass go…” I was admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on the 20th of December and was released on Christmas day. I was told by the cardiology team there that pericarditis is not uncommon in people who have had open heart surgery or have other underlying conditions. They used a number of antibiotics for the pericarditis and a slight case of pneumonia and I was feeling better in a matter of days. They have me on Colchicine to try and keep the pericarditis from recurring.

I hope this information is useful.

(The Other) Terry

Dear folks,
I am a 48 (otherwise) fit and healthy male, who, unfortunatley, was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, which was replaced a few weeks ago. I was becoming breathless under exertion. I asked my highly experienced cardiac surgeon (along with a million other questions), “what do you do with my pericardiaum?”..his replay was that he leaves it open, because to close the pericartidum can result in cardiac tamponade, and its better to just leave it open, less complications and no ongoing issues. Mind you he also said he was going to give me “a controlled traumatic injury…akin to hitting you in the chest with a bus”…Well, he “drove the bus” expertly, and I have recovered from my “bus crash” well. So far all well, walking on day 1 in ICU, out of the hospital on day 7, and walking twice a ay for 30 mins now at week 3.

I had a 4 by-pass in April of 2011. While I was doing physical therapy, I was beginning to not be able to breath like I should. I started gaining weight for no apparent reason and my fatigue was at its lowest. My cardiologist discovered my pericirdium had been damaged during surgery. After months of testing, I had surgery set up. I had gotten all ready for it mentally. This was not something I was looking forward to. The surgern decided he didn’t want to or couldn’t do it at that time; therefore, I just decided I would learn to live with it. But I’m getting sooooooo tired. I can’t do anything without complete exhaustion. I also have MDS and of course with that comes exhaustion. I feel that in order to have a better quality of life, I need to do something. How extensive is the surgery for this?

What about the friction between the heart and what’s left of the pericardium? I’m just learning anatomy and my book describes the pericardium sac, and fluid, as a way to decrease friction. So what happens after heart surgery? Is there a lot of friction? How does that change how well the heart works?

Thank you for answering the same question I had.

I’m attending EMT school and we are learning about Cardiac Tamponade, which is discussed in this article. My question is by what physical process does the sac mend itself when torn?
Any input would be greatly appreciated I’ve consulted my instructor as well as more than a few Google results to no avail.

My dad has been recovering from open heart surgery for10 days. Today they were unable to extract thick blood from around his heart. Seems they have been unable to stabilize his blood. What is going on here?

I was just released from the hosp today. I was in for surgery to drain fluid from the Pericardium (Pericardial Effusion) This is the second time in three months. Original problem was from Aortic Valve Endocarditis caused by a staph infection. I am fearful that this will happen again. My Dr. indicated that he left a window open in the Pericardium to continue to allow it to drain. I read in your article , and I see where the Cleveland Clinic does not close the Pericardium post operation to replace the Aortic Valve. This sounds like cardiac tamponade as described in the article above. I am not looking forward to doing this again.