TALK TO AN AORTIC NURSE

The Ross procedure is a surgical treatment for people with a diseased aortic valve. It is often offered to people under 50 who do not want to take long-term anticoagulant (blood-thinning) medications after surgery.

How the Ross procedure is done:

1. A cardiac surgeon removes the diseased aortic valve.
   
2. Then, the cardiac surgeon removes the pulmonary valve and places it where the aortic valve was. After this, the pulmonary valve is called an autograft.
   
3. The cardiac surgeon then places a donor valve from a human cadaver in the pulmonary valve position. After this, the donor valve is called an allograft.