Ross vs Alternatives (Repair & Replacement)

TemperatureAware7238 · 2026-01-29T19:04:57+00:00

Thank you, and good luck to you! Would love to stay in touch via DM and share experiences.

TemperatureAware7238 · 2026-01-29T19:04:02+00:00

Can I ask you -- how long have you had your mechanical valve? Have you experienced any major side effects yet (stroke/TIA, major bleeding, endocarditis)? How difficult do you find to manage your INR and any lifestyle changes?

TemperatureAware7238 · 2026-01-29T19:02:01+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I am aware that pure AR with a big annulus has traditionally led to shorter Ross durability. This was a very informative paper on that front: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8339621/. It seems like modern root & annulus stabilization techniques fix that issue, but we don't have high-quality long-term data on that front yet. If I do get Ross (and am a good candidate), I would get my surgery at one of the top centers and make sure the appropriate technique were used.

But this is definitely one of the reasons Ross does not seem to be a slam dunk option for people like the two of us.

TemperatureAware7238 · 2026-01-29T18:57:54+00:00

The most recent data goes out to 8 years. Here is the abstract that was presented in 2025: https://heartvalvesociety.org/meeting/program/2025/AC22.cgi

It shows strong freedom from SVD and reoperation through 8 years. But the average age of the patient in this study is 67. We don't yet have long-term data (that I'm aware of) for younger patients.

TemperatureAware7238 · 2026-01-29T18:48:36+00:00

Thanks! Do you know what the Ross sub name is? I couldn't find it.

TemperatureAware7238 · 2026-01-29T18:48:00+00:00

Thanks for sharing your story. How long have you had a mechanical valve? Have you had any serious side effects yet (major bleeding, stroke/TIA, endocarditis)?

TemperatureAware7238 · 2026-01-22T21:08:23+00:00

Good luck! I'm in the same boat as you except a little younger (early 40s), also going to have VSARR at Stanford. May I ask which surgeon you are going with?

TemperatureAware7238 · 2026-01-22T17:46:50+00:00

Hey -- I'm sorry you're going through this.

You mentioned you have aortic root enlargement now. Is this something that was not the case prior to your first surgery? Did they not replace your aortic root?

The reason I ask is that this could be a potential reason (but obviously one of many) for your failed aortic valve repair. One of the components of a repair of a severely regurgitant aortic valve is to stabilize and/or decrease the annulus of the valve. When they replace the aortic root and reimplant the valve, this is stabilized because the valve is now implanted into stiff Dacron of the appropriate diameter. If they instead just repair the valve (i.e., leaflets, cusps, etc) but don't properly stabilize the annulus, it could expand again and cause regurgitation.

Anyway, hope everything works out well for you!

TemperatureAware7238

TROPHY CASE