Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog – Page 9

For the first time since 2020, the world’s leading heart valve experts gathered “in-person” this weekend for the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) in San Diego, California. The STS Conference brought together thousands of doctors, medical companies and researchers to discuss the latest advances in heart valve surgery and other cardiac conditions.

 
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I just received several great questions form Nikki about the Dacron grafts that may be used during heart valve surgery to replace a life-threatening aortic aneurysm. Nikki asked me, “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?”

To answer Nikki’s questions, I interviewed Dr. Kevin Accola, a leading heart surgeon at AdventHealth in Florida who has performed over 14,000 cardiac procedures.

Click here to watch my interview with Dr. Accola about Dacron grafts, aneurysms and aortic valve repair.

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I love hearing patient success stories from our community!

For example… I just interviewed Janet Peterson, a retired accountant from Wadesville, Indiana, about her successful, minimally-invasive mitral valve repair surgery. It was great to learn why and how Janet got a mitral valve repair surgery given her severely leaky heart valve.

Click here to watch Janet and Dr. Marc Gerdisch, her surgeon, share critical insights about mitral valve repair surgery.

 
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I just received a great question from Claudia about atrial fibrillation and the use of Amiodarone after heart valve surgery. In her email, Claudia asks me, “Hi Adam, I had mitral valve repair surgery two weeks ago. I had an atrial fibrillation episode after the operation. What is the usual amount of time patients stay on Amiodarone?”

To answer Claudia’s question, I just interviewed Dr. Douglas Johnston, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. Click here to see my interview with Dr. Douglas Johnston.

 
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My thoughts and prayers remain with Damar Hamlin, 24, defensive back of the Buffalo Bills. As you may have seen, Damar experienced a cardiac arrest while making a tackle during Monday’s football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals.

The great news is that the latest medical reports suggest that Hamlin’s condition is improving.  According to CNN, doctors say Hamlin has shown “remarkable improvement” in the last 24 hours and is “neurologically intact”. Hamlin has been in the intensive care unit since he was taken from the field.

Damar Hamlin (Buffalo Bills)

 
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Dear Patients and Friends,

On behalf of Robyn, my wife, and Ethan, our son, I want to wish you a very safe, healthy and happy holidays!
 

 
All the best in 2023!
Adam

On behalf of our patient community, I would like to extend an extraordinary “Congratulations!” to Mike Mussallem, the CEO of Edwards Lifesciences, on the announcement of his upcoming retirement in May, 2023. I also need to extend a mighty “Thank You!” to Mike for his life-long commitment and dedication to advancing heart valve disease treatment.

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Congratulations to Mike Gabler, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) specialist at Edwards Lifesciences, for winning Survivor 43!!!

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Complications after heart valve surgery can be confusing, scary and frustrating for patients, their family members and friends. For this reason, we just interviewed Dr. Joanna Chikwe, the Chair of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Click here to see the “Top 5 Complications After Heart Valve Surgery”.

 
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Dear Patients and Friends,

Thanks to your support of the HeartValveSurgery.com community, I am happy to share that we just sponsored the life-saving heart surgery of Johann, a courageous 7-year-old boy from the city of Cebu in the Philippines.

Johann (Heart Surgery Patient)

 
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U2 is my favorite rock band.

So… As a die-hard fan, I think I know a good amount of trivia about Bono, U2’s singer. However, my eyebrows just shot to the top of my head when I learned that Bono had heart valve surgery!

Click Here to See Bono’s Heart Valve Surgery Story.

Keep on tickin’ Bono!
Adam

I am very excited to announce that Saint Alphonsus Heart Institute in Boise, Idaho just became the newest sponsor of HeartValveSurgery.com.

 
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When diagnosed with mitral valve disease, patients can be confused and misinformed about how to get the best treatment. To make matters worse, many cardiologists DO NOT know the latest research and techniques used to treat broken mitral valves.

For this reason, I hosted a “Surgeon Roundtable” with Dr. Michael Acker, Dr. Pavan Atluri and Dr. Michael Ibrahim from Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During this special interview, these leading cardiac surgeons debunked 6 mitral valve surgery myths to help you get the best outcome!

Click here to watch the “6 Mitral Valve Surgery Myths Busted!”. 

 
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I am very excited to announce that WakeMed Heart & Vascular in Raleigh, North Carolina, just became the newest heart valve surgery center to join us at HeartValveSurgery.com.

 
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[Update: Thanks to our wonderful patient community, our survey is now complete.]

Can I ask you a quick favor? To help future patients, I want to learn how people diagnosed with aortic stenosis get educated about their disease, treatment options and recovery.

That said, I would LOVE to hear your feedback on four new educational videos about aortic stenosis. If you have been diagnosed with aortic stenosis and you have not had an operation yet, will you please take the survey?

In advance, thanks so much for your help!

I really appreciate it!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

I received a great question from Tom about “Pumphead” after heart surgery. In his email to me, Tom asked me, “Hi Adam, What is the truth about Pumphead? I have read conflicting reports about whether or not the heart-lung machine is potentially responsible for post-operative cognitive issues including confusion, anxiety, and forgetfulness.”

To provide Tom an expert response to this important question, I contacted Dr. Junaid Khan, a leading cardiac surgeon at Sutter Health Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, California. During his career, Dr. Khan has performed over 4,000 cardiac procedure with more than 2,000 operations involving heart valve repair and replacement operations.

Click here to see our exclusive interview with Dr. Khan about Pumphead.

 
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For the first time since the pandemic began, I tested positive for COVID-19 last Friday.

So you know, I did get the Pfizer vaccine. I also got each of the three boosters. Interestingly, I got the Bivalent Omicron COVID-19 Booster just two weeks ago.

 
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I am very happy to announce that Dr. Luis Castro, a leading cardiac surgeon, has just become the first cardiac surgeon to receive 200 testimonials from patients in the HeartValveSurgery.com community.  Woo-Hoo!!!!

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Not all patients with aortic valve disease need a mechanical or biological valve replacement.  Let me repeat that… Not all patients with aortic stenosis or aortic regurgitation need a mechanical or biological valve replacement.

Thanks to advanced surgical techniques, known as aortic valve reconstruction, patients may greatly benefit from keeping their aortic valve tissue. To learn more about patient advantages from aortic valve reconstruction procedures, we just interviewed Dr. Chris Malaisrie, a leading aortic valve surgeon at Northwestern Medicine. 

Click here to see our exclusive interview with Dr. Malaisrie.

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Sometimes… Life is just too darn fun!!!

For example, I just received two wonderful pictures from Dr. Robert Saeid Farivar, a leading cardiac surgeon at Saint Alphonsus Health System in Boise, Idaho, with Mike Gabler from Survivor 43!  As you can read in this post, Mike is a Heart Valve Specialist who is a contestant on Survivor which is one of my favorite tv shows.

Dr. Robert Saeid Farivar & Mike Gabler

 
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