Michael's Guestbook

Thomas Brusstar  Yeah, the measurement of heart dimensions and leakage on an echo is surprisingly subjective.  I have a cardiologist who likes reading the raw echo files himself, and he re-calculates volumes etc.  So the numbers will fluctuate from technician to technician.  So I wouldn't be surprised that it could fluctuate from severe to moderate or whatever.

But any change in left atrium size suggests a definite problem.  My LA was about 4 times normal when I went in for a mitral valve repair!  My mitral valve actually snapped some of the "chordae," the little strings that help hold it in position, so mine was definitely a somewhat urgent problem.  I had a perfectly successful repair 6 years ago.  Still no leakage now (I still get an echo every year, just to check).  My LA was only about twice normal by the time I left the operating table, and came down a bit more over the following year or so (it is still larger than normal).  If you LA is getting enlarged, it's because it wasn't build to withstand all that pressure from the "backwash" as the huge left ventricle pumps.

Christine Maiorano  The echo I  had with my cardiologist showed an improvement 🤦‍♀️he decided to do a TEE which showed a major change. The echocardiogram I had at CC also showed severe MVT and TV leakage with enlarged LA