mitral valve?

I went to my adult congential doc to talk about "chrontropic incompetence". I ended up talking about my mitral valve after they did an echo and it didn't look good. I am looking to see 1) who else on here has had mitral valve issues? (I know there is one at least) and 2) who is a good doctor/ hosptial that would deal with this. Because I have had other surgeries there is a lot involved and lots of potential issues. I will be getting a TEE and a cath to conform the echo numbers yesterday . I am hoping the echo numbers were just plain wrong. And I want to maybe get on the books for a second opinion somewhere even though I need to have additional tests. This isn't quite "afib" but I have had that as well so hopefully it is Ok I post here- and the two could be related because I was status quo with the mitral valve until now. Feel free to PM if you have specific info for me. Or write it here. Many thanks.

Mitral valve prolapse is a known precursor to AF. You don't say, or don't yet know, if this is the case for you...?

It is quite unlikely the echo was yielding ambiguous results to a qualified and certified technician, unless the equipment was defective.

Over 25 years ago I had an irregular heartbeat on occasion and had an echo done, which diagnosed me as mitral valve prolapse, which was the cause of the irregular heartbeat.

After 5 years of this, my "irregular heartbeat" was caught on an EKG and found that I had afib and not mitral valve prolapse.

Now, after two successful ablations, all is well.

Quote
bettylou4488
I went to my adult congential doc to talk about "chrontropic incompetence". I ended up talking about my mitral valve after they did an echo and it didn't look good. I am looking to see 1) who else on here has had mitral valve issues? (I know there is one at least) and 2) who is a good doctor/ hosptial that would deal with this. Because I have had other surgeries there is a lot involved and lots of potential issues. I will be getting a TEE and a cath to conform the echo numbers yesterday . I am hoping the echo numbers were just plain wrong. And I want to maybe get on the books for a second opinion somewhere even though I need to have additional tests. This isn't quite "afib" but I have had that as well so hopefully it is Ok I post here- and the two could be related because I was status quo with the mitral valve until now. Feel free to PM if you have specific info for me. Or write it here. Many thanks.

What was your level of mitral valve regurgitation? I had mild regurgitation until an echo in 2019 showed severe regurgitation which required repair. I went to Cedars Sinai valve clinic for a second opinion and they recommended the minimally invasive MitraClip, which I was able to have done locally – and very successfully. Mitral valve disease is related to a Afib and Dr. Natale warned me that due to my history of mitral valve disease it was likely that he would have to do a more aggressive ablation. I had the ablation a month ago and his prognosis was correct – it was an extensive ablation but so far it seems very successful. He found moderate atrial scarring in the left atrium and, having read the following article, it looks to me like the scarring could’ve been the result of the severe regurgitation. “Atrial Fibrillation and Mitral Valve Prolapse: Time to Intervene?”[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Incidentally, I also had chronotropic incompetence and was given a pacemaker in 2018.

Daisy:

You said you had a pacemaker implanted in 2018, I have a pacer for many years. The tricuspid valve regurgitation that I now have is severe, the pacemaker lead that was put into my ventricals is responsible for this condition, I have read this, also my doctor has also said that this has happened to me because of the inpingement of my pacer lead in my ventrical. The other valves are mild to moderate.

My AF was caused by having a hyper thyroid.

Quote
gloaming
Mitral valve prolapse is a known precursor to AF. You don't say, or don't yet know, if this is the case for you...?

It is quite unlikely the echo was yielding ambiguous results to a qualified and certified technician, unless the equipment was defective.

Interesting. I have mitral valve prolapse since 1985 and was on 25mg BID Tenormin from the 80s until 2020. It kept my hr at 55.

Quote
Elizabeth
Daisy:

You said you had a pacemaker implanted in 2018, I have a pacer for many years. The tricuspid valve regurgitation that I now have is severe, the pacemaker lead that was put into my ventricals is responsible for this condition, I have read this, also my doctor has also said that this has happened to me because of the inpingement of my pacer lead in my ventrical. The other valves are mild to moderate..

Sorry to hear that. Was the lead not placed well? So far I have not had that problem.

Daisy:

You said"

(Sorry to hear that. Was the lead not placed well? So far I have not had that problem.)

No, I was told that is pretty common, the doctors realize this can happen. I don't know about the new pacemakers they have today, they have thinner leads for one. Seems like you fix one problem then another one occurs. So far I am good, my EP checks me and I will be having another Echo in a couple of months.

Hi bettylou4488. I'm late to the thread, but wanted to give info anyway:

1) I'm a (probably congenital) mitral valve prolapse patient who had open-heart annuloplasty MV repair in 1995 (Washington Hospital Center)
2) In the mid-Atlantic metro area, Dr. James Gammie is the premier "valve guy," he's currently at Johns Hopkins (I was referred to him for re-assessment when he was at U of Maryland).

Wishing you the best -- feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat about valve procedures.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2023 04:10PM by KathyM.