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Steven Perrotta  Hi Tobias. I have the same issue, but I am 54 years old. I decided to go with a tissue valve because I did not want to do the blood thinner thing either. I am going for a regular AVR surgery now and hope that when the time comes in 15-20 years (fingers crossed) that TAVR will be the standard process. If I can help you in any way, please reach out to me. My email is steveperrotta@outlook.com if you have any questions.

Thanks
steve

Kirk Bepler  Tobias, I also have the same issue but mine is the mitral valve. I have decided to go with the tissue valve if a repair cannot be done, my surgeon did say that if it was 2 + years ago he would not recommend a tissue but today with all the advancements within 10 + years when it's time to replace it should be a non-issue.

Elaine Phares  Tobias, welcome. I had my surgery on Feb 6 to replace an AV. Chose the Bovine valve because of not having to rely on Coumadin. Lots on here have chosen mechanical though with great results. Don't worry too much about the surgery or recovery. Almost 2 months and no pain, working full time, sleeping well and still going to rehab (which I highly recommend if you have an opportunity.) best of luck to you.

Tobias Wasmuht  Thank you for your reassurance. My poor wife is worried sick and is undertaking so much research she may as well become a cardiologist herself. Seems to better informed of the latest developments than the specialist we saw last week too. Here in the Netherlands all the medical staff We have spoken to this far quote guidelines and recommend a mechanical valve and open heart surgery. I won’t accept that.

Felix Cherny  Guys! I’ve read at length about the tissue vs the mechanical valves. American Heart Assosiation, FDA, British Heart organization - all recommend mechanical valves for patients under 65, rare cases under 60. I believe, it’s a bit irresponsible for some doctors to say “go with a bovine valve and in 10 years a miracle will happen”. 1) There is no guarantee that a bovine valve will last even 10 years in somebody under 55 due to high calcination. 2) it’s irresponsible to assure a patient that a “miracle will happen in 10 years”. In fact, nobody truly knows what will be available in 10 years. The long term data on TAVR is still NOT out there, easpeicialy on young patients. I’m struggling with a ticking noise of my St. Jude valve, but the risk of a tissue valve failure at 42 is much higher

Felix Cherny  Long term, I believe there is a solution with replacement body parts grown out of your own stem cells, but this technology is still about 15-20 years out, and even then it will take 5-10 years to prove it actually works in real patients. So, if you are healthy and under 60, your are fooling yourself by going with a bovine valve now. Doing another OHS at70 will be much tougher and the risks are much higher