14 replies to this topic

[blair]

Does anyone have any experience with this? Specifically, I want to know whether it will affect the person's health and fitness later in life once it has been operated on and the holes closed.

[SlimDJ]

I too would be interested as my wife has a Ventricular Septal Defect, and is thinking about solutions to fix it after the birth of our next baby.

[brizza]

i know a bit about this and have known patients post op,i believe they are good to go as soon as the surgeon says so,these days there are no long term problems associated with the surgery,BUT(i'm not a doctor so get this from someone who actually knows what they are talking about)there is a small piece of tissuue missing from the wall between the atria which would normally be full of blood vessels and elecrtical wiring and the new patch does not have these so the heart is still imperfect afterwards,mechancally good and the blood pressure changes are fixed but the long term studies show the same long term problems as those who did not have the op,my feeling is that heart surgery is much more sophistocated now and would be better than ops done twenty five years ago-you have to do your own research and discuss it with your cardiologist and be guided by him,sorry slim haven't seen any ventricular repairs and had no reason to research it,i'll do that today and get back to you

[Trick]

thanks for that info Brizza, makes me feel a little better.

[brizza]

i'm still catching up withthe septal defects,some estimates put the incidence at 25%,one was as high as 33% in all adults

[Spectre]

Most ASD/PFO correction surgery is now done percutaneously (though "keyhole" access into the vasculature), although more difficult cases still require full surgical access.

After the recovery period and follow up assessment the problem is usually considered rectified. There aren't any long term issues as far as we know apart from damage that may have occurred from high pulmonary pressures prior to surgery.

[Tim 2]

brizza, on May 28 2008, 07:01 PM, said:

i'm still catching up withthe septal defects,some estimates put the incidence at 25%,one was as high as 33% in all adults

All septal defects are holes which allow blood to flow from the left to right sides of the heart (or vice versa) through the wall (septum) that normally devides them. As a general rule atrial septal defects have less effect on cardiac function in both the long and short term because the atria are a low pressure chambers. However it depends on the size of the hole and the amount of abnormal blood flow. A defect would have been diagnosed with an echocardiogram which can tell you all about the size and flows etc. Speak with the cardiologist who did the echo as he/she has all the information you need.

I assume you are talking about an adult. The fact that the person is an adult and pressumably hasn't needed a repair previously suggests a relatively small defect which isn't causing cardiac failure or more serious complications. Outcomes in this situation are generally very good.

My limited experience with these problems is paediatric which is where you generally see larger and more significant defects.

Tim

[Trick]

Tim 2, on May 29 2008, 10:50 AM, said:

I assume you are talking about an adult.

My limited experience with these problems is paediatric which is where you generally see larger and more significant defects.

Tim

Nope - this would be our beautiful little girl who is 2. As opposed to our other beautiful girl who is 4, oh and the beautiful boy who is 1 .

She has 2 holes in the her septum which will more than likely require surgery next year some time. The paediatric cardiologist mentioned surgery and bypass machines and I sort of shut down after that so I didn't really take in much of what he said, so poor Balri didn't really get much of an idea of what he told me because I couldn't really remember. But now I've done a bit of research and heard from some other people who have dealings with it, I don't feel quite so bad. They're just going to monitor her over the next year or so. Balri's concerned mainly with how it will affect her life (if at all). Obviously he wants her out doing marathons with him.

[brizza]

brizza, on May 29 2008, 10:01 AM, said:

i'm still catching up withthe septal defects,some estimates put the incidence at 25%,one was as high as 33% in all adults

25% of all congenital heart defects are septal defects NOT all adults-briz

ah good tim2 you're a doctor i'm out of here

[Tim 2]

Trich, on May 28 2008, 08:22 PM, said:

Nope - this would be our beautiful little girl who is 2. As opposed to our other beautiful girl who is 4, oh and the beautiful boy who is 1 .

She has 2 holes in the her septum which will more than likely require surgery next year some time. The paediatric cardiologist mentioned surgery and bypass machines and I sort of shut down after that so I didn't really take in much of what he said, so poor Balri didn't really get much of an idea of what he told me because I couldn't really remember. But now I've done a bit of research and heard from some other people who have dealings with it, I don't feel quite so bad. They're just going to monitor her over the next year or so. Balri's concerned mainly with how it will affect her life (if at all). Obviously he wants her out doing marathons with him.

Sorry i missed the connection between Balri and yourself assuming you were two people who knew separate affected individuals.
Most paediatric people will assume you shut down and go through it all again at the next appointment.
From the limited information available it sounds as though your daughter is at the milder end of the spectrum of cardiac defects and is likely to do well long term. Having said that if an operation is required then it is a major procedure and comes with obvious stresses and risks.
At this stage all the best and i hope everything goes well.

Tim

[Trick]

Tim 2, on May 29 2008, 03:27 PM, said:

At this stage all the best and i hope everything goes well.

Tim

Thanks for the info Tim. It's been really helpful.

[blair]

Yes, thanks Tim and Brizza as well.

[dodger5]

I'm now 15 and had had full open-heart surgery to repair an ASD 2 yrs ago (we didn't find out about it for a while). I chose open-heart surgery over the newer less invasive surgery because, unlike the less invasive method, open-heart surgery has been used for decades and there's a lot of "proven" results. (Also, after going through open-heart surgery, I was told that the hole was so big that they wouldn't have been able to use the less invasive method anyway.) That traditional full open-heart method isn't supposed to affect one's long-term health for the future (that's primarily why I chose it). However, they did put metal wires (don't let the imagery frighten you too much - I barely notice them) around my sternum, I believe, to hold it together after they had to cut through it to get to the heart. Every so often (usually when I'm mentally/emotionally stressed, strangely), I may feel a small poking in my chest, which somewhat bothers me as I'm sensitive to those things. But this isn't supposedly a health concern. According to dr's, some percentage of patients will feel this, and if warranted, minor surgery can be done to remove the wires (it's not needed after the sternum forms back together, I believe). Doesn't bother me too much now though - I'm basically OK

Again regarding future affects though, after surgery I noticed that I could actually run longer and faster (due to the ASD being repaired). I think that's a good answer

Good luck!

[blair]

dodger5, on Jun 9 2008, 04:38 PM, said:

Again regarding future affects though, after surgery I noticed that I could actually run longer and faster (due to the ASD being repaired). I think that's a good answer

Dodger5, thanks for your feedback. Great to hear that you are doing well.

[Trick]

Your feedback is definately most appreciated dodger. It's also great to hear that you are doing so well now too!!