Medical Disclaimer

Everything I write on Biomedical Advances is here for general information and to help you understand the territory. It is not medical advice at any point, and it cannot stand in for the diagnosis, treatment, or care a qualified cardiologist or heart team gives you face to face.

I am not telling you what to do about your heart valve

Nothing I write recommends, or warns you off, a particular procedure, device, hospital, or valve, and nothing here decides whether TAVR, open surgery, or watchful waiting is right for you. That turns on your echocardiogram, your CT scan, your anatomy, your surgical risk, and the other conditions you carry, and it belongs with the heart team who know your full history.

My story is mine, not a template for yours

Much of this site is the record of one valve procedure and one recovery: mine. No two patients, valves, procedures, or recoveries unfold the same way. The pace at which strength returns, the complications that may or may not arise, the eventual feel of things, none of it holds steady from one person to the next. Read my account as company and as a realistic sense of what may lie ahead, not as instructions or a timetable you are meant to keep.

The figures I quote are for understanding, not for deciding

When I set out the numbers, the risk of stroke, the chance of needing a pacemaker, how long a valve may last, it is so the picture makes sense to you, not so you can weigh your own odds from a screen. Your personal risk is worked out by the team who can examine you and read your imaging, and their assessment comes ahead of anything I have written.

Reading my site does not put you in my care

Visiting these pages, or sending me a message, sets up no doctor and patient relationship. The cardiologist who reviews my articles for general accuracy plays no part in your treatment and is in no position to weigh in on your particular case.

If something is going wrong, do not wait

Severe aortic stenosis and heart valve disease can turn serious quickly. Chest pain or tightness, sudden or worsening breathlessness, a blackout or a feeling that you are about to faint, a racing or pounding heartbeat: any of these means you stop reading and get help. Ring your local emergency number, or reach your cardiology team at once, rather than leaning on this site.

On accuracy and links to other sites

I make a fair effort to keep what I write accurate and current, though I cannot promise it is complete or a fit for your circumstances, and whatever you take from it you take at your own risk. The sites I link out to are there for convenience and wider reading; what they publish is their concern, not mine.

Always ask a professional

Anything you want to know about a heart condition or a valve procedure should go to your cardiologist, or to another suitably qualified provider, and no professional advice should be brushed aside because of something you have read on my site.