Who Do I Believe?

bryantem · #1 09-19-2009, 12:59 AM

When Addisyn was in the NICU and had 2 echos, the report said that she had a normal tricuspid aortic valve. However when she had an echo in the picu at a different hospital, it said she has an abnormal bicuspid aortic valve. I don't know which Dr see or which Dr is right on this one. The first 2 Echos were done by one hospital and the third was done at another.

TommysMommy · #2 09-19-2009, 01:41 AM

Like any medical test, an echo is only as good as the tech performing it. I would err on the side of caution and assume she has the bicuspid valve. Honestly, a bicuspid valve is not something that is going to affect her day to day life. She will need to be followed by a cardiologist probably every one to three years. She may need sugery to correct it, but probably not until she's an adult if the valve doesn't leak.

I would request a referal to a pediatric cardiologist and have them perform an echo and ekg as well as an xray. It will put you at ease and if there is a problem, she will be in good hands with a PC. It may have been with the first two echos that she was in the wrong position, or the valve was too small to detect.

mylesmom · #3 09-19-2009, 11:03 AM

I found every Dr. who looked at an echo of our son's right sided heart enlargement had a different diagnosis. I've had cardiomyopathy, Epstein's anomaly, tricuspid regurg...........perhaps all those opinions you've got are wrong.................I've slowly discovered that doctors are merely "interpreters" and each will see things differently..................you've got to go with the flow sometimes..........

saywhatyouwill · #4 09-19-2009, 11:28 AM

if anyone has raised the possibility of an abnormal echo result then what can you do but pursue it? emily had 2 echos as a small baby which came back "clear" but when we got to see a proper cardiologist he absolutely couldn't believe what he was seeing on the echo, her heart was so bad. equally, in our case, echos have been very misleading: pointing to very serious pulmonary hypertension where there is none.

what will you do?

bryantem · #5 09-19-2009, 12:15 PM

I need to make a follow up appointment for this month. She does see a pediatric cardiologist and the person who read the prior reports was a ped cardiologist as well. It doesn't cause her any issues regardless right now. If she wasn't a preemie, she would have never had the echo that showed the VSD's (closed) and PDA (closed with medication)

Niff · #6 09-19-2009, 02:55 PM

I agree that the echos are only as good as the techs. I would request another echo and take it from there. Definitely bring up the issue with your peds cardiologist and get his/her opinion on what to do.

Good luck with things and I hope future tests reveal no issues!

Ainsley's Mom · #7 09-19-2009, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TommysMommy

Like any medical test, an echo is only as good as the tech performing it. I would err on the side of caution and assume she has the bicuspid valve. Honestly, a bicuspid valve is not something that is going to affect her day to day life. She will need to be followed by a cardiologist probably every one to three years. She may need sugery to correct it, but probably not until she's an adult if the valve doesn't leak.

I would request a referal to a pediatric cardiologist and have them perform an echo and ekg as well as an xray. It will put you at ease and if there is a problem, she will be in good hands with a PC. It may have been with the first two echos that she was in the wrong position, or the valve was too small to detect.

I think Rene's giving very good advice here. I would do that and explain that there have been differing reports so you want to be sure this time around.