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smoking and aortic valve

I have had cardiac surgery at 17 for a congenital stenosis on a
bicuspid aortic valve.
When I was 7 years old the pressure gradient was 55; at 16 a catheterism
failed to measure the gradient because they "weren’t able to make the cath
passing the valve" and suggested a replacement.
In another hospital a cardiac surgeon said that there was the possibility of
repairing the valve with an operation of commissurotomy (hope the english
traslation is right), operation that was successfully executed six months
later.
I never took any medication.
Now I’m 30 years old and while i’ve have a noticeable cardiac murmur, the last
check i did three years ago (a cardiogram and an echo) resulted "at the
limit of the norm".

This is in short my cardiac history.
My question is about smoking. One years ago i started to smoke about 15
cigarettes per day. Please don’t blame me, there are reasons that make me do
that.

What I want to know is:
1) what are exactly the effects of smoking on the aortic valve.
2) Can it accelerate the process of calcification?
3) Is it true that the calcification is provoked by the turbolent flow of
blood through the valve?

Thanks to everyone who will reply

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 6:21 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “smoking and aortic valve”

  1. admin says:
    September 28, 2009 at 6:21 am

    I have had cardiac surgery at 17 for a congenital stenosis on a
    bicuspid aortic valve.
    When I was 7 years old the pressure gradient was 55; at 16 a catheterism
    failed to measure the gradient because they "weren’t able to make the cath
    passing the valve" and suggested a replacement.
    In another hospital a cardiac surgeon said that there was the possibility of
    repairing the valve with an operation of commissurotomy (hope the english
    traslation is right), operation that was successfully executed six months
    later.
    I never took any medication.
    Now I’m 30 years old and while i’ve have a noticeable cardiac murmur, the last
    check i did three years ago (a cardiogram and an echo) resulted "at the
    limit of the norm".

    This is in short my cardiac history.
    My question is about smoking. One years ago i started to smoke about 15
    cigarettes per day. Please don’t blame me, there are reasons that make me do
    that.

    What I want to know is:
    1) what are exactly the effects of smoking on the aortic valve.
    2) Can it accelerate the process of calcification?
    3) Is it true that the calcification is provoked by the turbolent flow of
    blood through the valve?

    Thanks to everyone who will reply

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