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Aortic Valve Replacement Complications

If a heart valve becomes diseased due to heart disease, heart attack or other complication, heart valve replacement surgery may be recommended. This procedure is typically used for the mitral or aortic valve, and one of two grafts may be used: a mechanical valve, which is created from artificial materials to mimic the heart's own valves, or a tissue valve taken from an animal heart.

  1. Bleeding

    • Because surgery to repair the aortic valve requires navigating many important valves and blood vessels, the possibility of perforating a blood vessel exists. This can cause uncontrolled internal bleeding, which can result in more serious complications, including a heart attack.

    Graft Failure

    • Whether through rejection by the body's own tissues or other factors related to the surgical approach, the heart may reject the aortic valve graft. If the aortic replacement does not work properly, this can result in serious complications, including death.

    Atrial Fibrillation

    • Atrial fibrillation occurs when the heart does not engage in a pumping motion; it quivers instead of pumping. This can cause a rapid heartbeat to compensate for the malfunction. It can also result in a pooling of blood, which can lead to a blood clot. Atrial fibrillation is a highly treatable condition, but must be treated as quickly as possible in order to prevent further complications, such as stroke or heart attack.

    Abnormal Scarring

    • Sometimes the area around the replaced aortic valve can begin to scar, resulting in the heart valve becoming hardened. If this happens, the blood flows less smoothly through the veins, which can cause a number of additional complications, such as shortness of breath and chest pain. If scarring does occur, additional surgery to break up (score) the scar may be necessary.

    Numbness/Nerve Damage

    • During the aortic valve replacement procedure, a surgeon may graze or damage some of the nerves surrounding the heart. This can cause feelings of numbness either in the chest area or in other parts of the body. Often nerve damage is only temporary and is able to heal during the recovery period. However, sometimes the nerve damage can become permanent.

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