What follow up care is required after open and closed aortic valve surgery?

What sort of follow-up care could you expect after having a TAVI or an open aortic valve repair? So once you've had an aortic valve replacement or a TAVI, you will be seen by your specialist generally after six weeks and at that point in time they would normally arrange for you an echocardiogram or a scan of the heart to look at the functioning of the valve and the functioning of the heart. More importantly, you are given advice about being careful with regards to treatment of any infections that you develop once you've had the operation. And the reason for it is that if you have an infection which is untreated and that infection gets into the bloodstream, the microorganisms or the bugs, they can infect your new valve. So it is extremely important that patients are advised to seek medical help as soon as they develop some symptoms suggesting an infection anywhere in the body. It could be an infection in the chest. It could be an infection of the urinary tract. It could be an infection of the bowel or something as simple as a sore throat. So that is one of the key, you know, advices we would give to our patients. Patients are also advised to, you know, seek the opinion of a specialist if they're going for dental treatment. There is some current recommendation that patients don't require antibiotic cover if they're having a dental procedure. However, most specialists would advise the patients to seek advice prior to having a major dental treatment as there is always a risk that such a treatment can increase the risk of having valve infection or the artificial valve infection. Once patients have been seen after six weeks and they've been reviewed by a specialist with a scan of the heart. They are then advised to return to normal activities of life. They will be seen on a yearly basis by a specialist who would do a scan. Now, depending upon the type of artificial valve that you have, the duration of the scan would vary. If you have a metal valve or a mechanical valve, then sometimes you don't need a scan for up to five years after you've had the operation. With a tissue valve, or what we call as a biological valve, that duration can be up to two years after the initial assessment by a specialist following your operation.