My mother has a surgery to install mechanical heart about a dozen years ago. She also developed breasts cancer. The new drugs that she uses is destroying her mechanical valve. I can clearly hear her valve “tick” starts having wrong rhyme. After checking with doctor because she has trouble breathing, the doctor said her valve is in bad condition and that she can die at any moment. They let her go home after stabilize her current condition. Doctor said her valve cant be replaced again but it is true?
In: Biology
Is she taking doxorubicin? That drug can treat a lot of cancers but may damage the heart causing trouble breathing.
Yes valves can be re-operated but the surgeon told you he wouldn’t replace it. That makes me think that the risk of an undesired outcome from surgery is higher than the potential benefits of a valve replacement.
Not a doctor but id imagine that yes it could be replaced and that you should look into at least getting a second opinion from a different doctor.
But it could be the balance of risks that, yes this mechanical valve may have a chance of causing your mother major problems, but that chance might be smaller than the risks involved with going through open heart surgery, especially at your mothers weakened state while she battles cancer.
By all means look into a second opinion. But do not forget to consider that changing a heart valve is not as simple as changing a tire, it would require major open heart surgery.
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