Hi,

My uncle has been diagnosed as having "calcium deposits in the Arota
valve ". The doctor has recommened Open-Heart surgery to replace the
valve.

I was interested in finding out if there are any relaible alternatives
to surgery in this case.

Any pointer would be helpful,

Thanks

Some people deposit calcium at various places in their arteries.  One of
these places is the aortic valve.  Over a period of time, calcium
infiltrates the valve leaflets making them hard and inflexible.  Normal
valves have three leaflets, but sometimes people are born with a 2 leaflet
valve (bicuspid). When these valves calcify, the opening between the
leaflets gets smaller, which reduces the amount of {*filter*} flow that can go
thru the valve, and when this gets smaller than 1 sq. cm., then this is
usually the point at which it is recommended to replace the valve with an
artificial one.  You ask if there is another reliable way to fix this. The
answer is not really, in my experience as a cath lab nurse.  There is a
procedure called Valvuloplasty in which a balloon is slipped between the
inflexible leaflets and inflated.  This then is supposed to make the
opening larger, but it really doesn't work very well and the valve, in most
cases, needs to be replaced anyway.  The best thing to do is to ask your
doctors this question to see if they can offer any alternatives.  Good luck