Heart Surgery
 

I will need to have open heart surgery to replace my aortic valve. Can anyone comment on if Leesburg or Munroe Regional is a better alternative.

I would also welcome any recommendations for a good local cardiologist.

Cleveland Clinic is an airplane ride away and the best in the entire country.

Monroe, I had valve replaced & 5 by passes. Great hospital. I have Dr Kirsch & he is great.

I have no first-hand experience with Munroe Regional, but I do have experience with Leesburg Hospital. I had bypass surgery/mitral valve repair at Leesburg and they were terrific. Leesburg has a very good reputation for heart-related issues.
My surgeon was Dr. Wistar (Tim) Moore III.

I would not trust open heart surgery to any facility or doctor in this area. You need a hospital affiliated with a quality academic institution like Shands in Gainesville (University of Florida) or Tampa General Hospital (University of South Florida).

You should also consider a TAVR instead of open heart surgery if they consider you a candidate. Minimal invasive with no opening of the chest and often with better results.

I had a bypass and heart valve replaced at Leesburg Hospital last summer. Although the docs and nurses were great, I was not impressed with the hospital's scheduling, procedures, or food service. Tests were missed and rescheduled. My leg incision got infected. Food was inedible. More stress than necessary. Go somewhere else.

I had quadruple heart surgery in Tampa six years ago before moving to The Villages. As a heart patient I researched local facilities here in The Villages and attended several workshops with cardiologists and surgeons from Munroe presiding. I visited and toured Munroe and without question or hesitation strongly recommend it. Dr. Bityl (spelling) was most impressive with ties to the Boston and California medical professionals. I believe he had written in excess of 100 publications.

Munroe has my vote!

My wife had an aortic valve replaced at Leesburg by Dr. Cook, who works with Dr. Moore. Everything went very well. Dr. Cook's staff and the hospital staff were great.

Another vote for Leesburg and Dr. Moore.

I had my aortic valve replaced 3 years ago via open-heart minimally invasive surgery (called "J-cut"). I would only go to a Heart Intensive Hospital that does a bunch of these sort of operations simply because the round-the-clock staff sees all the various complications that can occur. They see them frequently and know how to deal with them. Do check and ask the surgeon/hospital you are considering how many valve replacements they have done in the past 12 months. You can also google US News on surgeon/hospital ratings and search for those that do a large number of valve replacements. From US News you will see Leesburg has only a 22.8/100 rating and "worst" rating for survival. Munroe is 33.9/100 and "better than average" for survival. The one I went to in Indianapolis was a 48/100 rating and "best" for survival, same as for Cleveland Clinic as to "best" for survival, though Cleveland Clinic overall rating was 100/100. Wish you the best no matter where you go.

Leesburg has quite a reputation for being really good when it comes to heart surgery. I had a triple bypass there in fall of 2015.

Heart Surgery Aortic Valve.
 

I had my aortic valve replaced 10 years ago at Munroe by Dr. Kuykendall. 352-369-0288/ Still going strong. Talk to him before making any decisions. Dr. Hector Garcia local cardiologist.