New Ross Procedure Patient Education Center Launches!

Heart-Valve-Surgery.com, a leading patient advocacy group for heart valve disease, today launched the “Ross Procedure Patient Education Center”, an end-to-end digital platform for patient awareness, patient education, and patient activation specific to aortic valve disease treatment using the Ross Procedure.

Aortic valve diseases, including aortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation, prevent the aortic leaflets from opening and closing properly. As a result, the heart must work “over time” to pump blood throughout the body. Patients with aortic valve disease often have heart murmurs and experience debilitating symptoms including chest pain, dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat.

“Aortic valve disease is a deadly and under-treated disease,” stated Dr. Vaughn Starnes, Executive Director of the USC Cardiac and Vascular Institute, part of Keck Medicine of USC, in Los Angeles, California. “Without treatment, up to 50% of severe aortic stenosis patients may die 24 months after the onset of symptoms. Sadly, new research suggests that 25% of patients with moderate or severe aortic stenosis are not clinically recognized and 66% of symptomatic severe aortic stenosis patients do not receive treatment.” (Reference #1 and #2)

During the past six years, there has been a 742% increase in the use of the Ross Procedure to treat aortic valve disease as the number of Ross Procedures performed annually in the United States has increased from 63 Ross Procedures in 2017 to 531 Ross Procedures in 2023. (Reference #3)

The Ross Procedure, which was developed by Dr. Donald Ross in 1967, is often referred to as the “Switch Procedure”. During this advanced form of aortic valve disease treatment, the patient’s defective aortic valve is removed. Then, the patient’s pulmonary valve is removed and placed in the patient’s aortic valve position. Lastly, a donor human valve (or bioprosthetic valve) is implanted in the patient’s pulmonary valve position.

The Ross Procedure has several advantages for patients including long-term durability, superior hemodynamics, no life-long anticoagulation, improved quality-of-life, growth potential in younger patients, and normal life expectancy into the third post-operative decade. (Reference #4)

“During the past 30 years, I have performed over 650 Ross Procedures,” stated Dr. Starnes. “For the right patient, the Ross Procedure can have a very favorable, long-term outcome. However, the Ross Procedure is not for every patient. Patients really need to research and evaluate whether the Ross Procedure is the right treatment for them.”

The new “Direct-to-Patient Ross Procedure Education Platform” developed by Heart-Valve-Surgery.com with a world-renowned team of Ross Procedure experts from:

• Baylor, Scott & White The Heart Hospital – Plano
• Cedars-Sinai
• Cleveland Clinic
• Keck Medicine of USC
• Northwestern Medicine
• Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center
• University of Washington Medicine Heart Institute

The proprietary platform leverages artificial intelligence, patient-centric algorithms, geolocation features, next-generation telephony engines, robust databases, and a social media following of over 550,000 people.

Adam Pick, a Ross Procedure patient and the founder of Heart-Valve-Surgery.com stated, “Using an integrated system of proprietary digital building blocks, the new platform helps patients learn about the Ross Procedure and find surgeons that specialize in this complex operation that has provided me an extraordinary life. Dr. Starnes performed my Ross Procedure nearly 20 years ago. Since then, I have not needed a reoperation or reintervention.”

Click here to visit the Ross Procedure Patient Education Center.

Keep on tickin!
Adam

Medical References:

#1: Eugene Braunwald, “Aortic stenosis: Then and Now”, Circulation, April, 2018.
#2: Adam Reisman and Dr. Sammy Elmariah, “A Review of ‘Access to Care’ Issues in Aortic Stenosis Patients: A Negative Report Card”, Structural Heart, January, 2025.
#3: Amine Mazine, “The Ross Resurgence: North American Trends in Utilization and In-Hospital Outcomes”, April, 2024.
#4: Maximiliaan Notenboom, et al, “Long-Term Clinical and Echocardiographic Outcomes Following the Ross Procedure”, JAMA Cardiology, November, 2023.