Did your doctor stress the importance of getting surgery immediately for your leaky heart valves? Bloomberg reports here on the high level of importance attributed to getting surgery immediately if a patient has leaky heart valves. Some doctors allow patients to wait but this can be quite detrimental to the patient’s health.
Bloomberg states, “People with damaged mitral valves, which allow blood to flow backward in the heart, live longer and healthier lives if they get immediate surgery to repair a severe defect rather than wait for symptoms to appear.” Patients used to delay surgery because of the risks associated with it but a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that these reasons are not valid anymore.
Getting the surgery sooner than later has numerous benefits that patients do not know about. According to this study, “Getting the operation within three months boosts survival by forty-five percent over a decade for those with valve regurgitation that hasn’t caused symptoms.” Experts in the field told Bloomberg that the surgery has been perfected over the years and is very safe now. One cardiovascular surgeon from the Mayo Clinic told Bloomberg, “When the patient does develop severe regurgitation, at time zero of diagnosis, the clock begins ticking. If we can relieve the strained heart muscle within a few months, we know it will last longer.”
The surgery would greatly benefit patients with heart murmurs and related heart issues. According to Bloomberg over two million people in the United States have heart conditions that could benefit from the surgery. The study had over 1,000 participants. Everyone suffered from severe regurgitation in the mitral valve, which lies between the left atrium and left ventricle. This is the main area where the heart pumps blood thus it is extremely important to rectify any problems in that area sooner than later.
“After a decade, 86 percent of those treated within three months of diagnosis were still alive, compared with 69 percent of those who were initially monitored to see if the condition worsened,” according to Bloomberg. Doctors who conducted the study are urging patients to get the surgery as soon as possible for the best results.
