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When Is Aortic Valve Replacement Necessary?

  • Treating valve diseases: The doctor can mostly recommend an individual to go with the aortic valve replacement for treating certain valve diseases such as conditions which are known to affect the aortic valve such as the aortic stenosis and the aortic regurgitation.
  • For those individuals who are suffering from valve diseases and when the symptoms tend to become severe then the individual would be advised to undergo surgery for replacing the valve.
  • Severe form of valve regurgitation: The doctor is also likely to recommend surgery for replacing the aortic valve in case if the regurgitation becomes severe enough for causing an irreparable or permanent case of damage to the heart.
  • For those individuals who are suffering from any of the valve diseases and at the same time suffering from other forms of medical conditions such as high blood pressure or the coronary artery disease then it is possible that the regurgitation can worsen and in such scenario the individual would be advised to undergo surgery.
  • Bypass surgery:  Most of the times it is said that the bypass surgery should be done in parallel with the replacement of the valve.
  • When to go in for valve replacement: The doctor would first check the progression of the regurgitation which would be based on the echocardiogram for determining when to go ahead with the surgery for replacing the valve.
  • Severe form of aortic disease: In case if the condition is left without any treatment then it can lead to sever form of aortic medical condition and it can worsen which would eventually turn out to be fatal for the individual.
  • For determining if the surgical route is the best option for you the doctor would consider multiple factors such as how severe is the aortic regurgitation, its symptoms, the fraction of ejection as well as the size of the left ventricle would all be assessed. The severity of the valve regurgitation as well as the likelihood that it would get worse needs to be first balanced out against the risk which is involved by carrying out the surgery of valve replacement. This valve replacement surgery is known to have high rate of success as well as low risk of having any other issues if the individual is otherwise fit and fine. But in such cases the surgery is mostly the open heart surgery. Many of the times the individual has a successful outcome but there is also a risk of death as well as occurrence of serious problems while carrying out the surgery.
  • In case if the individual is suffering from mild form of aortic valve disease and also the symptoms are mild and the doctor would monitor the condition to see if it does not turn out to be worse.
  • The doctor can look to also recommend going in for a surgery even when the symptoms are not there since the occurrence of symptoms is a kind of sign by the body that the heart is about to get damaged hence immediate action is required.

Even when the valve replacement surgery has shown success the individual may face other problems which can include, there can be an increase in the risk of blood clots wherein it can break off and lead to heart attack or a stroke. If the individual has a mechanical valve, then the risk again increases hence the individual would need to take an anticoagulant which can include a warfarin.

In case if the valve fails though the chances are less that it would not work then the doctor would need to check from time to time for ensuring that the valve has been working properly.