Valve Repairs & Replacements
Rheumatic Valve Disease causes valve stenosis and leaks. These are quite commonly seen in India. Apart from these there are situations in which valves get infected due to some other severe untreated infections elsewhere in the body. This condition is known as Infective Endocarditis.
Valve Repairs:
In young and old where patients tissues are severely damaged . We believe in repairing most of the valves sothat patients need not take blood thinners.
Preoperative assessment using a 3D echocardiogram is done and complete planning for the repair is done in all patients to check if half of the valve tissue is dameged. We use pericardial tissues, Goretex sutures, and prosthetic rings for the repair. In certain situations, even the calcified portions of the valve are removed and reconstruction was done with the pericardium. Even aortic valve reconstruction and repairs are done in young patients using pericardium.
Infective Endocarditis:
This is a situation in which the valve tissue is damaged and many centers prefer to do valve replacements. We do repairs in such situations by reconstruction with pericardium of even half of the valve. The results of such reconstruction are excellent and patients can lead a near-normal life if the infection is eliminated. If such patients undergo valve replacements they have a very high chance of recurring infections.
Valve Replacements :
In situations where the valves have been severely damaged due to RHD and in case of calcified value disease, we go for value replacements. We usually use bioprosthetic valves for value replacements as they give a better quality of life.
All these valve surgeries are done mostly by minimally invasive techniques called MICS (Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery ).
