If you’re living with a heart disease, you know there are many treatment options to consider. Along with lifestyle changes, medications, and medical devices, heart surgeries are another common form of treatment for some heart diseases. You may have heard of animal heart valves used as a treatment for certain heart diseases. If you’re wondering whether this procedure is right for you, read on to learn how it works.

Reasons for Heart Valve Surgery

Your doctor may recommend heart valve surgery if one or more of your heart valves are not working properly. When heart valves don’t open and close as they should, it disrupts normal blood flow through your heart. This can be dangerous. The most common treatments for heart valve problems are fixing or replacing the valve. This can be done through open-heart surgery or a less invasive method.

If you have a heart valve that’s too damaged to repair, your doctor may suggest heart valve replacement surgery. Valve replacement surgery involves removing the damaged valve tissue and replacing it with a functioning heart valve. There are several options for replacement valves, including mechanical valves and biological valves (made from human or, rarely, animal tissue). If you’re a candidate for animal heart valve replacement, you may wonder which animals the valves come from, and what makes animal tissue safe to use in a human body.

Which Animal Heart Valves Are Used

Animal tissue used in heart valve replacement surgeries mainly comes from two types of animals: cows and pigs. A cow tissue replacement is known as a bovine valve and a pig tissue replacement is called a porcine valve. While they both come from animals, they are made in different ways. With a porcine valve, an entire aortic valve is removed from the heart of a pig and used as is. With a bovine valve, a new valve is constructed using the heart wall muscle of a cow.

Both types of animal valves have shown similarly positive results for patients. Your doctor will recommend the type of valve replacement that is best for you.

What Makes Animal Tissue Safe To Use

Worldwide, more than 250,000 heart valves are replaced each year. Around 45 percent of valve replacements use biological valves instead of mechanical valves. These valve replacement surgeries have been done for more than 50 years and are considered very safe.

If you’ve chosen a pig or cow valve replacement surgery, rest assured that your medical team will take many careful steps to ensure your safety. Before an animal replacement valve is used in a human body, the animal tissue is thoroughly sterilized and chemically treated. Usually, the disinfectant chemical used is glutaraldehyde, which kills germs and helps the tissue work better with your immune system, removing anything that might cause your body to reject it. This chemical also preserves the tissue, helping your new valve last longer.

Pros and Cons of Animal Heart Valves

When deciding whether to recommend an animal or a mechanical valve, your doctor will consider several factors, including your age, lifestyle, and medication needs.

The main differences between animal and mechanical valves are how long they last and the medications you need to take with them. With animal valves, you typically do not need to take any long-term medications. Animal valves degrade over time and typically last around 10 to 20 years. After that, animal valves may need to be replaced, which could require another surgery. Your doctor might recommend an animal valve if you are over 65, because the valve could last the rest of your life. Some evidence suggests that animal valves may wear out more quickly in younger people, which increases the chances of needing another surgery later.

Mechanical heart valves last longer. They’re made of carbon and metal and are very unlikely to wear out, so you probably won’t need another surgery. However, they do carry a higher risk of blood clots. This means that with a mechanical valve, you will likely need to take blood thinners daily for the rest of your life. Some blood-thinning medications (also called anticoagulation drugs) may require you to visit your doctor monthly or test your blood at home. Mechanical valves also make a clicking noise, which might bother some people.

In some cases, being on blood thinners can increase the risk of developing other health conditions. In those instances, a doctor might advise you not to get a mechanical valve, even if you’re younger than 65. Your doctor will carefully consider your age, health, lifestyle, and priorities when recommending the best valve option for you.

MyHeartDiseaseTeam Member Experiences

MyHeartDiseaseTeam members have shared their experiences about making decisions with their doctors. One member said, “My cardiologist will only use a pig valve on me because they don’t want me to be on blood thinners, given the medications I have to take for my mental health and other conditions.”

Depending on your lifestyle, an animal valve could still be the best choice, even if it may need to be replaced later. One MyHeartDiseaseTeam member shared, “I had my aortic valve replaced with a bovine tissue valve in 2011 at age 52. I’ll likely need a new one before long. When the time comes, I’ll do whatever they recommend.”

Another member shared their story of getting a second bovine valve implantation, saying, “I had a 20-year-old bovine valve replaced in 2022. They inserted a new valve on top of the old one and said it would last me another 20 years.”

What To Expect from Animal Valve Replacement Surgery

Valve replacement surgery can be done using a minimally invasive catheter procedure, but it is typically done with open-heart surgery, especially for people under 75. Unlike a stent insertion, where you might be awake, open-heart valve replacement is done when you’re under full anesthesia, meaning you will be asleep and won’t feel any pain. During your procedure, a breathing tube will be inserted and connected to a ventilator to help you breathe, and a machine will pump your blood for you. If your valve is treated with a minimally invasive catheter procedure, you might not be under full anesthesia; you will be awake but feel no pain.

If you are having an open-heart surgery, your doctor will make an incision (cut) in the middle of your chest. If you are having a minimally invasive procedure, you will have smaller incisions in different locations.

After open heart surgery, you will likely stay in the hospital for five to seven days, starting in the intensive care unit (ICU) and moving to a regular room when your care team feels it’s safe. You may be able to eat, drink, and walk as soon as you wake up, or after a few hours. Most people recover fully within one or two months. Recovery from a minimally invasive catheter procedure is faster. Early in your recovery, you may feel tired and should avoid driving or lifting heavy objects.

Talk to Your Doctor

Like any important medical decision, the decision to have a heart valve replacement surgery — and what type of valve you should receive — is best made together with your loved ones and your health care team. Talking to your doctor can help you understand the pros and cons of your treatment options.

Fortunately, heart valve replacement surgery is very common and generally considered safe. People often recover fully after heart valve surgery and return to their work, lifestyle, and activities they enjoy.

Talk With Others Who Understand

MyHeartDiseaseTeam is the social network for people with heart disease and their loved ones. On MyHeartDiseaseTeam, more than 61,000 members come together to ask questions, give advice, and share their stories with others who understand life with heart disease.

Have you or a loved one had a heart valve replacement? What kind of heart valve did you choose and why? Share your questions and experiences in the comments below, or start a conversation by posting on your Activities page.