Barry's Profile

*****Greetings***** Since December of 2015, I have recently acquired (2) 2nd opinions from Dr Gillinov @ the Cleveland Clinic & Dr Joseph Bavaria @ Penn Medicine near Philadelphia that is actually just a 1hr 10 min drive south of me.Both suggest to have aortic valve replacement surgery soon(next 3 months) due to my Av area dipping below 1.0 to .7 for the very 1st time since we discovered a heart murmur in 2010. I am currently asymptomatic & have no issues whatsoever.,,,,I still feel like a million bucks & still swim after work each day. That being said,,,the leading culprit for the calcification on the aortic valve seems to be due to the radiation I had back in 1988 for the early stages of Hodgkins disease.The New England Journal of Medicine even states a 30yr latency period for possible valvular disease. I'm currently near that at year 28. I'm currently debating with myself on selecting the Cleveland Clinic(6hrs away) or Penn Medicine(1hr_10min south of me).I do realize that The Cleveland Clinic has been ranked 1st in cardiology for last 15 years & Penn Medicine is around being 7th. ,,,,,,,Any thoughts/input/reccomendations on this issue from anyone would be greatly appreciated!!! ,,,,,,,,,,Barry