Heart Valve Replacement News and Info
I just received an email from Julie that contains several, ongoing concerns specific to blood banks and heart valve surgery. If you are a patient or caregiver preparing for heart surgery, I encourage you to continue reading this post.
Julie writes to to me, “Adam - Jon, my husband, had mitral valve surgery on October 31st [...]
I was just reading the New York Times when I came across a very positive story about elderly heart surgery patients.
According to a new report, “Eighty-year-olds with clogged arteries or leaky heart valves used to be sent home with a pat on the arm from their doctors and pills to try to ease their symptoms. [...]
Medical technology is rapidly advancing.
So is the little baby boy growing in the tummy of my pregnant wife, Robyn.
Considering the genetic nature of heart valve disease - including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation - we’re thinking about using an umbilical cord blood bank. As you may know, a baby’s umbilical cord blood is a valuable [...]
It’s time for another “True or False” quiz… That said, is the following statement true or false?
The American Heart Association just reported that twice as many Americans are hospitalized with heart failure today compared to 25 years ago.
According to the AHA, the statement above is TRUE. Twice as many Americans are hospitalized due to heart [...]
I’m going to keep stressing this point for all the patients and caregivers… Get a second opinion! Today, 35% of patients fail to do so. Here is a great patient story that illustrates the value of second opinions:
Dear Adam,
My name is Mike. I am 47 years old and in 2003 was diagnosed with mitral [...]
I juut came across this interesting video about women, heart valve disease and heart valve replacement surgery.
If you would like to watch this patient video about Donna Stricklett. If so, simply press the play button and make sure the volume on your computer is on.
The key topics discussed in this heart surgery video include:
Leaky Heart [...]
In the past we’ve talked about pumphead, the post-operative condition that negatively impacts the cognitive capabilities of some heart surgery patients. Well, Spike (from Nevada) just emailed and referenced a new medical term. He calls it “dumbhead”.
Although Spike’s new term is quite playful, his story (posted below) illustrates several key concerns for heart valve surgery [...]
Talk about some an incredible doctor and some very neat technology!
I just learned that porcine valve replacement pioneer, Alain Carpentier, is leading the development of a new, artificial heart. Carmat SAS, Carpentier’s France-based company, recently landed over $15 million in start-up funding and $50 million in government grants to develop the artificial heart using plane [...]
The older I get… The more I realize there are no short-cuts in the game of life. Whether it deals with money or weight loss, the “sure thing” is seldom a sure thing.
An unfortunate example… A new study published by BMC Medical just revealed some disastrous findings about the use of Fen-Phen for weight loss [...]
If you’re a long-time subscriber to this blog, you know that I stick to the fundamentals here. I research and write about heart valve surgery to help patients and their caregivers. Of the 1,453 pages of information on this website, only 2 pages have strayed from this topic.
This morning, I feel compelled to deviate from [...]