Ask The Doctors: May 2012

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Whether or not you should get surgery for your leaking bioprosthetic aortic valve depends on more factors than just your age. The fact that this would be your second open heart surgery would make the procedure more risky, mainly due to the presence of postsurgical scar tissue known as adhesions which tend to form in the chest. My recommendation would be for you to get a second opinion from a large academic medical center, such as Cleveland Clinic. The possibility of a second heart surgery should still be considered, because it is the tried-and-true method for fixing the problem.
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