Barbara Walters recovering from Open Heart Surgery, 05/11/2010
Barbara Walters announced on the TV show “The View” that she will have surgery for a defective heart valve this week. Barbara Walters is famous for her interviews, co-anchor of 20/20, and is currently a host on “The View”.
What valve abnormality would you expect in an 80 year old?
Calcific Aortic Stenosis
What is the most likely cause?
Aortic stenosis is most commonly due to age-related wear and tear.
Do you remember the classic murmur?
A crescendo-decrescendo murmur heard best at the right second intercostals space and radiating to the carotids.
What are the symptoms that would cause you to do surgery?
Angina, Syncope, and Shortness of breath.
What would you expect to see in the heart on gross examination?
Concentric left ventricular hypertrophy occurs due to the pressure overload.
If a pig or cow valve is used for valve replacement what kind of a graft is it called?
A Xenograft is surgical graft of tissue from one species to another.
Barbara Walters is not the only one to have open heart surgery recently. In 2009, the comedian Robin Williams and Former First Lady Barbara Bush(pig valve) had aortic valve replacement surgery for aortic stenosis.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/05/14/barbara.walters.heart.ppl/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Copyright 2010 John Barone MD. All rights reserved.