My boyfriend is getting mitral valve replacement surgery soon, he is getting a mechanical valve put in.Has anyone had this surgery done? What are the risks. Anything else need to know about this surgery that is important. Im just worried about the surgery wanting to know as much as I can to be prepared. thank you
Haven't had it done before but: It's a pretty involved procedure. Patient is put under general anesthesia and is usually on the cardiopulmonary bypass machine (heart-lung machine) since you can't really replace a heart valve if the heart is beating. mortality for full valve replacement according to wiki is 6-8 percent, prob less than 5% for young healthy patients. Recently, many people have been doing the procedure laparoscopically. Patients are put into the surgical ICU for typically 1-2 days after the surgery. You can be discharged about a week after. Obviously there's risks, this is a very involved and definitely not a simple procedure. However, the cardiothoracic surgeons do these procedures every day for their entire lives-they're very skilled and qualified. good luck!
