Ruben's Journal

I'm curious to ask anyone here who's done the research about advancements in heart valve replacement and tissue valves. When do you think we'll advance to a time when less invasive dual valve replacement will be a thing? It seems to me that we are 20 years away from it but I'm wondering if I'm being unrealistic with that. I've had two valves replaced (tissue for aortic and mitral valves) and need two new valves after 7 years. I really want to go tissue valves again but part of that is my hope that the technology will get better. Any thoughts? Will we ever get to a point when surgeons will do a less invasive dual valve replacement? Surgeons don't seem to want to do it because supposedly less invasive heart valve replacement is slightly more risky than full open heart and then if you multiply that by two surgeries for each valve, your risk goes factor goes up twice as much. Will we ever get to a point when that's not the case or do you think it will always be the case and there will never be any better solution for me?

Hello. I'm 41 years old and in need of having a dual valve replacement (aeotic and mitral) again. It's been almost exactly 7 years since my last surgery. I opted for tissue valves to avoid the life long sentence to Coumadin and hoping that my valves would last long enough for new procedures and techniques to evolve fast enough for new valve replacement techniques to arise. And while that happened to a degree, it doesn't seem that my valve lasted long enough for the technology to evolve quite enough. I meet with the surgeon and he really wants to put in mechanical valves to avoid repeat surguries (although I know there's no guarantee with this and people with mechanical valves have had to have them replaced). I'm still on the fence. The thought of this surgery again and again has definitely made me consider mechanical valves more than I ever have. My surgeon also feels that since both valves need to be replaced, that the only real choice is full open heart surgery. He feels that the less invasive procedures just increase the risks. I'm curious to hear what other people in their 30s and 40s who've actually gone through the procedure think about which valves they decided to go with, why and if they have any regrets. Thanks for your feedback.