After AVR

[bee862]

Hi all hope you are well.

I have just been told that the left muscle in my heart is still very thick a year after my surgery. Is this common. I’m really worried. I don’t know what this means for me.

[13allit]

Hi

I have mitral valve repair last May and have been part of a research project which has taught me a lot. Before my operation I had a detailed mri scan and it was explained to me that part of my heart was thicker as it was having to work harder due to the one flap on my valve not working. I had another scan 6 months after the operation and there is still some thickening there but it’s not a problem, just from the years of having a leaking valve. They aren’t sure how long it will look like that or if it will go, that’s part of the study but my heart is working perfectly and that’s the main thing. Unless you have any other problems with your heart it’s likely to be due to the excess work it’s done in the past.

The main thing for me now is to keep active and make sure the heart muscle is worked properly to give it the best chance to all look the same in the future.

Hope this helps but if you have any concerns then have a chat with your GP.

[bee862 in reply to 13allit]

Hi 13allit

I was on a medical trial too, at royal Brompton. It’s called the arise trial. I had the same pre op checks and talks that you had and was told I needed a new aortic valve and the root and part of my aorta replaced. It’s been a long struggle so far. I just had my year post op MRI and they said my heart muscle is still thickened so increased my bisoprolol. I was really worried because I wasn’t sure what it meant for me and the professor didn’t explain too much. Thanks for the reply, it’s made me feel a bit better and that I know I’m not alone in the troubles.

[13allit in reply to bee862]

Glad to have been able to help. Logically if our hearts have been overworking in one part for all our lives then it would be a miracle if they went back to normal in a year! I think it’s all more worrying because it is our heart and if it was something in our leg we wouldn’t be as concerned. The bisoprolol is used to help protect your heart so it doesn’t have to work as hard. I could only tolerate it for 6 weeks as I had breathing problems but my cardiologist felt I wows doing ok so would manage without it. He’s been proved right so far so the thickened part wasn’t a worry to him. I’m 10 months post op now and am generally doing really well and so glad I had the op when I look back at how ill I was this time last year. Modern medicine is wonderful!

[bee862 in reply to 13allit]

I’m so glad you feel better than last year, I’m really glad I had the operation. I was told I only had 5 years maximum if I didn’t have the operation. I just worry because I feel dizzy sometimes and a bit poorly but that could be the medicine or the thickened muscle. If it wasn’t my heart I wouldn’t be so worried, but because it is, I panic about everything to do with it all the time

[13allit in reply to bee862]

I'm exactly the same. Maybe next year it'll all feel different when we're further away from the op and can have ordinary illness like everyone else.

[bee862 in reply to 13allit]

Oh I really hope so. I wish you all the best and a happy healthy future

[Lezzers]

I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you, maybe your medical team can tell you what happens next. I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did your heart become thick & how would surgery have helped this?

[bee862 in reply to Lezzers]

Hello lezzers

I don’t mind at all.

It became thick because I was born bicuspid and my heart was working harder. I had surgery on my aortic valve because it had narrowed not on the thickness of the heart muscle. I have just been told that the muscle is still thick.

[Lezzers in reply to bee862]

Thank you for replying. I wasn't aware that thickness of the Heart could by reversed. I hope you get the answers your looking for.

[bee862 in reply to Lezzers]

No problem it’s the muscle on the left of my heart that is thicker because of over working. As far as I know it can return to normal. I was just worried I was the only person this has happened to lol.

[werd]

Let me try and explain what is happening like other replies i had a byscupid valve(congenital).your heart is just a muscle the harder you work it the larger it will get.after the op when the aortic valve is replaced it does not have to work so hard and it shrinks back to normal size.i had my avr 45 years ago and after about a year had past the consultant told me my heart had shrunk he just about pick me off the floor.thay omitted to tell me it was enlarged before the op and the shrinkage was what was expected.every thing will get back to normal in a year or two

Yours drew

[bee862 in reply to werd]

Thank you for your reply

I really hope it all goes back to normal. It’s all very scary. I hope I can’t get rid of this dizziness too.

I was thinking it was something else and I was going to need another op.

[Boblell in reply to werd]

45 years ago! Wow, well done. Very reasuring to us that have had new mechanical valves!

[bee862 in reply to Boblell]

I was thinking the same thing

[werd in reply to Boblell]

The only drawback taking warfarin has resulted in major hair loss.at 26 i had a full head of hair.now at 71 most of it has blown away.on the upside a haircut only costs me 7 pounds

Yours drew

[Boblell in reply to werd]

Every cloud has a silver lining Drew. Your positive attitude must have helped as well. I wish you many more years 👍

[Jewel7 in reply to werd]

Hi drew,

Your post is similar to my husbands, he had AVR, can I ask did you get some irregularities in your heart rhythm after AVR and when did it all settle down. My husband is 4 weeks post op and has irregularities still when feeling his pulse.

Regards,

[Jewel7]

Hi I read your post.... did or do you have irregularities in your heart rhythm because of the thickening

Regards,