Aortic Valve Repair, Replacement and Surgery

Aortic valve surgery is usually done on patients who have a leaking aortic valve. In many cases, surgery to repair, or replace, the existing valve is the only option. The faulty valve, in severe cases, is not functioning properly and in is allowing blood to regurgitate. When talking about aortic valve repair, replacement and surgery there are a few options. First off, the surgery could consist of repairing an already existing valve. This will most often consist of a surgeon reinforcing the aortic valve to ensure that is working correctly. Reinforcing the valve will give it the strength it needs to open fully or close completely. The next option is aortic valve replacement. The valve will either be replaced with an artificial valve or a valve made out of donated human tissue or animal tissue. The doctor will make the call on which kind of valve replacement is right for your situation.
Aortic Valve Repair

* Repair of the structural support. This is when the surgeon will shorten the cords that support the valves. When theses valves are shorter it will allow the aortic valve to close completely.
* Reshaping is where the aortic valve is cut and then sewn back together in a new shape. Reshaping the aortic valve will allow it function properly. When the valve becomes misshaped it cab have difficulty regulating blood flow.

Aortic Valve Replacement

* A mechanical valve will be put in place of your natural aortic valve. These mechanical valves are made out of polymers or metals. The mechanical valves are very safe and will ideally last for a lifetime.
* Using human donated tissue or animal tissue is a permanent solution to a faulty aortic valve. The tissue will be used in place of the pre-existing aortic valve. Surgery that involves using tissue is very effective at first but gradually becomes weaker and weaker as time goes by. The aortic valve will need to be replaced every 10 to 20 years if tissue is used.
* A small incision of 3 or 4 inches will be made on the chest. The incision will act as the entry point that the surgeon will use in order to insert the new aortic valve.

Aortic valve repair, replacement and surgery should be a serious consideration if your aortic valve is leaking or not functioning properly otherwise. Make sure to work with a qualified surgeon in order to get the best, most effective results.

Heart Disease in Women

Heart Disease in Women

Heart disease in women is a serious issue that needs special attention. Certain factors that pertain only to women are responsible for making this group of people at risk. In the past, most physicians would typically monitor men more closely for heart disease than women. This is because, in general, it was thought that most women have a lifestyle that is less stressful than men. While this may have been true at some point in time, it is not true today. The fact that many women deal with the same stresses as men, coupled with the fact that there are a few natural causes for heart disease in women in play, means that special attention must be paid to the possibility of heart disease.











Causes of Heart Disease in Women

* Menopause. Some medical professionals feel that when a women’s body stops producing estrogen they are at greater risk for getting heart disease. There is evidence that suggests that estrogen helps to insulate a women’s body from acquiring the condition. This fact is especially true if menopause occurs due to surgery. If a women has surgery to remove the ovaries or the uterus then the chances of them getting heart disease increases significantly.

* Birth Control Pills. Women who take birth control pills put themselves at risk of getting heart disease. In an effort to protect yourself from this condition is recommended that the pills be low-dose. The lower dose will be gentler on the body, specifically the heart. With that in mind, women who are on birth control and smoke cigarettes or have high blood pressure are at a higher risk for heart disease.

* Poor lifestyle habits. Similar to men, women who are in the habit of not exercising and eating poorly are at a greater risk for getting heart disease. A lack of exercise will oftentimes be accompanied by high cholesterol. If you have high cholesterol than the chance of having a narrowing or hardening of the arteries improves. Also, eating a poor diet will mean that you are putting food into your body that can poison it. In short, fatty foods will lead to the production of plaque in the arteries which will ultimately begin to build up on the interior walls of the arteries.

Heart disease in women is a major problem in this day and age. Knowing the causes and symptoms can help you identify if there are any warning signs present.

Stents in the heart

Stents in the heart are small medical devices (small mesh tubes) used to treat narrowed arteries (arteries are blood vessels that carry blood from heart to the tissues). The procedure of placing stents in the heart is called angioplasty. Angioplasty alone, without stent placement is associated with a high risk of recurrence of the arterial blockage, in months or years after the procedure. That is why placing stents in the heart solved this disadvantage of the angioplasty, maintaining blood vessels opened and avoiding heart surgery. The risk that the arteries will renarrow is 10-20%  in the first year after angioplasty, while in the absence of a stent the risk is twice as much.

Stents in the heart are usually made of metal mesh or fabric (these ones are used in larger arteries). Some of these stents contain a special substance that prevent blood from coagulating and are called drug-eluting stents.

How are stents in the heart placed? 

Doctors use a balloon inside the artery to compress the plaque (deposits of fats in the arteries wall, also called atherosclerosis) and widen the passage (the arterial lumen through which will flow blood). After this, they place the stent in order to maintain the passage (the artery lumen) opened.

How do we prepare patients before placing stents in the heart?

Patients should be well informed about the stents in the heart procedure, about the risks and the special precautions. These are a few questions u must always ask your doctor about:

•  Why is it performed?
•  How is it performed?
•  What are the risks and precautions of this procedure?
•  Is there any other alternative?
•  What happens if I refuse this procedure?
•  Always sign a consent paper.

Why are stents in the heart placed for?

The purpose for stents in the heart placement is to keep the arterial lumen opened and allow blood to flow, in this way tissues will receive enough blood and the symptoms of ischemia (oxygen deprivation) will be relieved.

• For carotid arteries blockage: fat deposits in carotid arteries wall (also called plaques, they are a manifestation of the disease named atherosclerosis) can determine neurologic symptoms like dizziness, fainting, headache, memory and concentration problems and in severe cases even stroke.
• For coronary vessels (blood vessels that supply blood for heart tissues): a special tube called catheter is introduced in the femoral artery (the main artery of the lower limb) and it is conducted in the arterial system until it reaches the coronary arteries. In that moment, a special substance is pumped into the catheter in order to view the arteries and the blockage. This catheter has a tiny balloon on its tip, which is inflated in the narrowed area, compressing the atheroma (the plaque of fats from the artery wall that blocks blood flow) and enlarging the lumen. After this a stent may be placed to keep the lumen opened.
• For kidney or leg arteries, aneurysm of the aorta.
  

What are the common precautions after placing stents in the heart?

•  blood clotting precautions: in order to prevent blood clotting, patients with stents in the heart have to take antiplatelet medication (aspirin, clopidogrel)
•  if the stent is made of metal, than the patient can’t have MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
•  avoid vigorous effort early after the stent placement procedure.
  

What risks are related to stents in the heart?

•  restenosis- blood vessel becomes blocked and narrow again, despite the angioplasty procedure
•  about 1 or 2 percent of the patients with a stented artery are at risk of developing a cloth at the stent site; the consequence of this complication can be a heart attack. This complication is more frequent in the first year after stent placement and can be prevented by antiplatelet medication (like aspirin, clopidogrel).
•  bleeding at the site of the catheter insertion into the skin
•  damage of the blood vessel produced by the catheter
•  irregular heart beats
•  infection or allergic reaction (due to the substance used to view the arterial lumen)

Stents in the heart brought a significant contribution in cardiology, saving and improving life in patients with heart attack and coronary disease.

Replacement heart valve surgery

Valvular diseases (lesions of the four valves of the heart) in general have some common characteristics in terms of etiology, symptoms, clinical investigations but also others such as replacement heart valve surgery used in treatment.

Replacement heart valve surgery basics

There are four valves in our heart: mitral valve, aortic valve, pulmonary valve and tricuspid valve. These valves may have opening of valve problems (stenosis) or closing of valve problems (regurgitation). Interventional treatment (especially replacement heart valve surgery) is necessary when patients have symptoms for these lesions.
We can not expect that valve lesions consists have a spontaneously regressive evolution and therefore the most common method of treatment is the replacement hear valve surgery. There are cases when multiple heart valves are affected. The surgery is performed by repairing or replacing the heart valve. Replacement heart valve surgery is surgery that is performed when the valve can not be repaired and the heart valve is replaced with a prosthetic valve. Before replacement heart valve surgery patients will receive general anesthesia during which they will be asleep and will not feel pain. The most replaced valves are mitral valve and aortic valve. There two kinds of valves used for the replacement heart valve: mechanical valves and biological valves. Biological valves may come from pigs, cows or human donor. Biological valves from human donor may be heart valves or pulmonary valve especially for aortic valve replacement. Mechanical valves are much better then biological valves. After replacement heart valve surgery with mechanical valve patients must follow treatment with anticoagulants or with aspirin for the rest of his life.
Mitral stenosis and mitral regurgitation
Replacement heart valve surgery for mitral stenosis is indicated in patients suffering from medium or large stenosis (mitral valve orifice of less than 1 inch or symptomatic patients and mitral valve opening more than 1 inch).  The most common cause of mitral stenosis is rheumatic disease. Prophylactic replacement heart valve surgery for mitral stenosis may be made to women who want to have a child.
Replacement heart valve surgery can also be done for mitral regurgitation. But this can have some disadvantages: first because replaced valve can not function as original valve and second because may be some complications of surgery (embolism, infection in the body, coagulation changes or endocarditis – infections of heart valve).
Aortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation
Aortic valves are different from mitral valves such as structure and function. Replacement heart valve surgery is done both for congenital aortic stenosis and for acquired aortic stenosis. Indications for surgery can be done to symptomatic patients or to patients with moderate aortic stenosis who have other heart surgery.
Replacement heart valve surgery for aortic regurgitation is an easy surgery to replace aortic valve. Mortality of this intervention is quite high.
Complications related to valve replacement are increasingly rare lately and when they occur is necessary a new surgery.

In conclusion replacement heart valve surgery is a very good technique to solve valvular heart problems.

Heart attack symptoms in women over 40

Cardiovascular diseases and especially ischemic cardiomyopathy and heart attack are some
of the causes of mortality and morbidity in both women and men, but heart attack symptoms
in women over 40 may differ from those of men.
Of certain statistical date cardiovascular disease is the first cause of the mortality in women.
Risk factors for heart attack
There are several risk factors that cause different heart attack symptoms in women over 40 :

• Obesity, high blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia (increasing the percentage of fat
  in the blood) especially triglycerides.
• Another risk factor is use of oral contraceptives and
  menopause.
• A small percentage of patients who use oral contraceptives appear hypertension
  unrelated to dose contraceptive. However, patients with controlled hypertension may use
  oral contraceptives, but under supervision. If the consumption of oral contraceptives added
  smoking the risk of heart attack increase. If we compare mortality rates of cardiovascular
  disease in men and women over 40 will see a significant increase in mortality after
  menopause.

Heart attack symptoms in women over 40

Today, there are several features of heart attack symptoms in women over 40. The main heart
attack symptoms in women over 40 is not chest pain, but dyspnea which represent shortness
of breath. This symptoms may appear a few hours, days or months before heart attack
symptoms. Most minim discomfort may be an atypical sign or a symptom for heart attack.
One of these is atypical chest pain for which women do not go to the doctor only if the is
persistent and upset the patient. Sometimes heart attack symptoms in women over 40 may be
the absence of pain. Absence of pain can be attributed to nervous or mental disorders. But,
heart attack symptoms in women over 40 like atypical chest pain have a worse prognostic
then men.
Unusual fatigue is another heart attack symptoms in women over 40. This fatigue can be felt
as a state of drowsiness. Patients may not take into account this symptom believing that it is
simply missing out of sleep, an infection with a virus or adverse effect of another drug and not
present at the doctor. Patients may be associated nausea, sweating and chills.
Pain in the calf may be a sign for deep vein thrombosis which may eventually lead to heart
attack. This is another heart attack symptoms in women over 40 which occurs predominantly
in patients with hormone therapy, smokers, who just had surgery or in patients who have
been on a plane flight. If pain is sudden or gradual, patients should consult their doctor
immediately.
Other symptoms or signs for heart attack may be serious and can lead to death of patients if they are not recognized in time.
So how do you know if you have a heart attack?

At the early signs or symptoms, the patients must go to the doctor because they can be heart attack symptoms in women over 40 and their persistence can lead to death.