I was born with tetralogy of fallot with pulmonary atresia valve syndrome.
When I was five I had my first procedure done.
They put in a pulmonary valve.
And then when I was 15 they went in and replaced that one.
I've had that one up until now.
((sounds of procedure room))
The Melody Valve is a catheter-based implantable valve that can replace a dysfunctional pulomnary
valve.
and it can be done by going through the venous system through a skin-access point in the
leg and avoid the patient having open heart surgery to have valve replacement.
So the first part of the case is always this fairly involved diagnostic assessment of the
outflow tract itself to make careful measurements and know everything is the right size and
know that we won't be impacting things in a bad way.
Once that is done then we need to prepare the landing area, landing zone for the new
valve.
We need that to be uniform and round and of a length that is appropriate for the valve.
That's done with a combination of high pressure angioplasty balloon and stenting to get that
to a uniform caliber of the right size and length for the valve.
And by doing that we protect the valve so that the valve itself doesn't have to exert
that pressure to maintain the lenght and shape, it only has to open and close.
The other prep work we do creates a safe landing zone for it.
There are a series of washes we do because of the way the valve is treated to preserve
it for use.
There are series of baths and washes we do.
They are all timed and specific.
The valve, because it is sewn and prepared in the expanded shape, we have to manually
crimp it down onto the balloon catheter to give it the low profile to get in inside the
delivery system.
so it needs to get down to a size of less than 7mm.
Which we just do by gradually lengthening it and pushing it down so we get it on the
balloon properly.
And the final step, which is the most exciting is putting the new valve, the stented valve
in that prepared area and seeing that new valve go up and immediately upon deflation
of the balloon, the valve starts to move.
And restores full function of the valve which we test with pressure measurements and a final
picture that shows he has a competent valve in place and all the blood is going forward
only instead of forward and backward.
It just felt like my heart was pumping so much easier.
You know I don't know if it a lot of it was mental, but it was crazy - I felt an immediate
difference.
It's one of the most gratifying procedures we do.
To know that just a few years ago, these people would have had to have another open heart
surgery.
And to be able to give them the exact same valve product and see it work immediately
and they wake up after the procedure and they're walking around the hallway that night and
home the next day.
It's just remarkable.
It's very fufilling.
It's just a crazy relief; not having to be cut open again in my chest.
I have a big 10 inch scar right here.
Today I'm leaving with a little, it's about a centimeter in my thigh.
The last procedure I had at this time, I couldn't even get out of bed.
Now I'm leaving today after just one day.
It's crazy how far it's come in the last 12 years.