Key points from today’s guests:

Kenny Karczewski, heart valve repair patient

• Kenny was diagnosed with a heart murmur due to a heart valve issue and was told by other doctors that he needed open heart surgery and possibly a heart transplant.
• He received a second opinion at The University of Kansas Health System and it was determined that this could be fixed with a less invasive procedure.
• He has changed his lifestyle and lost more than 30 pounds to be healthier – and the cardio team helps him with his diet.
• Kenny recommends people get their regular physicals and treat their body better – take your own health seriously.

Dr. Omar Almoghrabi, thoracic surgeon, The University of Kansas Health System

• The mitral valve is one of the four valves in the heart and when it leaks, the blood goes backward toward the left upper chamber so it creates this recirculation and inefficiency within the heart. There's less cardiac output going toward the rest of the body.
• Mitral valve disease affects about 7.5 million people in the U.S. each year.
• It can go undetected for a long time, and people can have literally no symptoms until it's at an advanced stage.
• Ultimately, what people experience is palpitation, shortness of breath, and swelling in the legs, which eventually leads to enlargement of the heart, and it could lead to multi-organ failure.
• The DaVinci robot assists in fixing the valve. The first robotic surgery was performed in 1998 with an earlier prototype of this DaVinci platform, but in 2002, it received FDA approval for mitral valve repair.
• This process allow for quicker recovery time and the success rate is 95 percent after 10 years.
• Nurse navigators basically evaluate every patient – they collect all the data, they get all the studies, and then they present it to surgeons and cardiologists to discuss the options and then decide on which route to go.
• If you end up having mitral valve disease, make sure you get seen by heart valve center – you want to make sure that they take a multidisciplinary approach to your issue.

Monday, July 8 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. When the pituitary gland malfunctions, it stresses out your whole body. We explore Cushing's disease and the symptoms that can confuse doctors and force patients to push for answers.

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