Prior to the Heart Valve Summit, I received over 70 patient questions for the doctors at the conference. In her question, Kim asked, "Hi Adam, I have a bicuspid aortic valve with a valve size of .6 and a gradient of 80. When can I expect to have surgery?"

One of my favorite parts of this project is hearing from patients after their surgeries. Yesterday, Theresa sent me a thoughtful note that touched on several elements of the surgical process. That said, I thought you might like to read and learn from Theresa's experience.

As a follow-up to Wednesday's post about Northwestern's Bicuspid Aortic Valve Program, I received an interesting note from Cindy. She writes, "I was born with a bicuspid aortic valve and have already had valve replacement surgery. My question is, 'Do my children need to be worried about inheriting this? Have you had Ethan checked?'"

One trend I've noticed over the years is that surgeons and cardiac centers are becoming "sub-specialists" specific to heart valve treatment. By sub-specialization, I mean that clinics are extending significant resources to advance valvular therapy by disease type, by surgical technique and by patient risk factors. For example, three weeks ago, I met with a surgeon who suggested that 99% of his procedures are mitral valve repairs.

Here is a great patient update from Sara. You might recall that the last time we heard from Sara, who has a bicuspid aortic valve, dilated aortic root, and coarctation of the descending aorta, she was newly pregnant with with a baby girl. Well, I have some inspirational news to share directly from Sara. She writes to us:

I recently received a great question about bicuspid aortic valve repair. The patient wrote to me, "Adam - I have a bicuspid aortic valve and a dilated aorta. I think I need an aortic valve replacement and an aortic root replacement. I'm curious. Is it possible to get a bicuspid aortic valve repair instead of having it replaced?"

Sato sent me a very interesting question about bicuspid aortic valve repair. He writes, "Hi Adam - I'm 61. I've been diagnosed with bicuspid aortic valve and severe regurgitation. I've been told a repair is possible. During surgery, does the bicuspid aortic valve become a tricuspid valve?"

Time for your heart valve trivia of the day... Here's the question:

I just received a very appropriate email from Phil about age groups and heart valve surgery.

Anyone interested in a patient success story that smells of 100% inspiration?

Talk about twists and turns during the early recovery from bicuspid aortic valve replacement surgery. Jim from Alabama has quite the tale to tell... Here is what he writes:

Here's an inspiring email from Melissa, a recovering patient from Sydney, Australia. With her approval, I thought you might like to read it:

Like many heart valve surgery patients, I was born with a bicuspid aortic valve. However, unlike many of you, I was not diagnosed with the bicuspid aortic valve defect as a newborn baby. It wasn't until I was five years old that my family doctor heard my heart murmur. After that, diagnosis of the bicuspid valve was formally issued following my first visit to the cardiologist.

As you may have seen at HeartValveSurgery.com, we are continuously providing updates about the different types of surgical and transcatheter heart valve replacements.

So, I just received an email asking, "Do you have any pictures of a bicuspid aortic valve?"