Precautions after heart valve replacement surgery:
1. spending the early postoperative period recuperating from life;
2.Time to return to work or labor;
3.Pay attention to the prevention of infection;
4.The prevention of arrhythmia;
5, correct treatment of heart murmur;
6.The symptoms before surgery disappeared unsatisfactorily after surgery or new symptoms appeared;
7. Pregnancy and childbirth or surgical treatment of other diseases are possible;
8.The following cases should be immediately reviewed by a doctor.
(1) Spend the early post-operative recuperation life
The 3 months after surgery is an important stage to overcome the trauma of surgery and to recover your body, you should recuperate carefully and do the following.
(1) Perform appropriate indoor and outdoor activities according to your physical condition, in a gradual and measured manner, so as not to cause panic and shortness of breath.
② Pay attention to the prevention of colds and flu, if you are unwell, you should seek medical treatment in time.
③You can eat at will and do not need to avoid food, but you should increase nutrition, increase variety and ensure adequate intake of protein and vitamins. Those who are able to do so can eat more fruits or other nutritional supplements, and do not eat too salty food.
④You should always keep your spirit happy and relaxed, and you can participate in appropriate recreational activities.
⑤ Continue to take various medications given by the doctor on time, especially digitalis preparations.
⑥A detailed examination should be conducted at the hospital 3 months after surgery, and the future course of convalescence should be decided according to the examination results.
(2) Time to return to work or labor
When you go to the hospital for a review every 3 months after surgery, your doctor will ask you detailed questions. It depends on your heart function, physical condition and the nature of your work at that time. Generally speaking, it is possible to return to work in the following steps.
① The main focus is on recuperation within 3 months after surgery, already as described before.
② 3-6 months after surgery, depending on your heart function, physical condition and nature of work you can consider half day light work and half day rest. Physical work must be done gradually, from light to heavy, at the beginning for a few days on a trial basis, if there are no symptoms, then you can continue to be competent; if you feel tired or short of breath, then you should hold off and not be forced.
(3) After 6 months after the operation, in general, you can consider resuming full-day work and gradually transition from light work to normal work, but those with poor heart function should act according to the doctor’s orders at that time.
(3) Pay attention to the prevention of infection
Any infectious disease should be strictly prevented after surgery, because once bacteria enter the bloodstream it can easily cause endocarditis, affect the activity of the prosthetic valve, or cause embolism due to embolus dislodgement. Therefore, infections such as skin boils, traumatic infections, periodontitis, colds, pneumonia, nephritis, and inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, etc., should be avoided as much as possible in general.
Once they occur, they should be treated promptly and without delay. If the fever does not subside for a long time after the infection is actively treated, loss of appetite, scattered bleeding spots on the skin around the body, enlarged liver and spleen, and change in the nature of the heart murmur, you should be more alert, and then you must be hospitalized to control the infection in time.
(4) What if you have a heart arrhythmia?
When you notice that your heartbeat is irregular, you should take a rest and go to a nearby hospital for an examination and ask your doctor to give symptomatic treatment. Generally speaking, atrial premature beats have less impact on heart function and can be controlled with adequate rest and medications such as digitalis; ventricular premature beats should be actively treated and controlled as soon as possible, while other arrhythmias should also be treated promptly.
In patients with atrial fibrillation, correction of atrial fibrillation can be considered 3 months after surgery, usually when the heart function recovers better. If your atrial fibrillation is more stubborn, your heart function is poor or you have already corrected fibrillation 1-2 times unsuccessfully, you should not force to correct fibrillation to avoid danger and poor results, but continue to take cardiac diuretic drugs and treat symptomatically.
(5) Correct treatment of heart murmur.
Sometimes after mitral valve replacement, a mild diastolic murmur can still be heard in the apical part of the heart; a mild systolic murmur can be heard in the aortic valve area. These murmurs are usually normal, mostly due to the narrow annulus of the prosthetic valve, and do not have any hemodynamic impact. Therefore, you should not be concerned. If you are having a mechanical valve replaced, you may sometimes hear a metallic clanging sound during the heartbeat, which is also normal and not a cause for concern.
In addition, if you or your surgeon find other murmurs or if a new murmur is found after the early postoperative period when there was no murmur, further examination or contacting our hospital will allow us to analyze the nature and cause of the murmur and decide on a course of treatment.
(6) What if the symptoms before surgery disappear unsatisfactorily after surgery or new symptoms appear?
Valve replacement can generally improve symptoms more significantly after surgery, and its efficacy is certain. However, because valve disease is a complex pathological process, and because of the trauma of the surgery itself, there are sometimes some symptoms in the early postoperative period. As long as you take care of yourself and treat the symptoms, they will gradually decrease or even disappear. Sometimes the symptoms caused by non-cardiac factors cannot be completely eliminated, so it is necessary to distinguish the causes, treat them separately and give reasonable treatment.
As for new symptoms that arise suddenly, you should contact the hospital in a timely manner to find the cause, distinguish whether it is a cardiac factor, and provide symptomatic treatment. Valve failure is extremely rare, but it is important to be alert and to contact our hospital for symptomatic treatment as soon as it is confirmed.
(7) You can have a pregnancy and delivery or undergo surgery for another condition.
If you wish to have a pregnancy and delivery after flap replacement or if you have other medical conditions that require surgical treatment, this is perfectly possible, such as tooth extraction, appendectomy, abortion, and other major and minor surgeries. However, the following points should be noted.
① Pre-operative determination of the level of cardiac function, careful maintenance and improvement of cardiac function, and strive for pregnancy and delivery or surgery in the case of good cardiac function. Those with poor cardiac function should not be pregnant.
②The anesthesia method should be appropriate, strive for smooth anesthesia, and try to avoid affecting cardiac function.
③Patients on long-term anticoagulation therapy should suspend anticoagulation for 1 week before surgery. Vitamin K can be added intramuscularly 2 days before surgery, and short-acting anticoagulants such as heparin calcium can be taken during this period. The anticoagulation therapy can be continued 24-48 hours after surgery in the absence of blood leakage.
(4) Antibiotics should be used before, during and after surgery to prevent infection.
(8) Immediate medical review should be performed in the following cases.
①When there is infection in any part of the body.
②When there is unexplained fever.
(3) When there is obvious shortness of breath and swelling.
④Coughing up foamy blood sputum.
⑤ When jaundice appears on the sclera and skin of the whole body.
⑥When there is bleeding tendency such as subcutaneous bleeding and hematuria.
(7) When new arrhythmia occurs.
⑧When sudden syncope, hemiparesis or pain, chilliness or pallor in the lower limbs occur.