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Hi everyone. As promised, I would provide an update after we took Sushi for his echocardiogram which happened yesterday.
So as it turns out, Sushi's panting doesn't seem to be related to heart disease. That's the good news. The bad news is it turns out he does have a rare heart anomaly at the aorta, like his brother Bowser (two different rare heart diseases... what are the chances?). It isn't subaortic stenosis, but aortic valve dysplasia. Basically due to a valve defect his aortic valve isn't shutting completely which allows blood to flow backwards into the left ventricle. It is moderate backflow only, and the cardiologists said that it's nothing to worry about for now. However, it can potentially lead to issues down the line if it progresses. No medication was recommended, but we will have to take him in for a recheck in a few months. We will schedule the appointment at the same time as his brother's next time so they can keep each other company and I'm really hoping both my boys' conditions stay mild.
We are feeling a little overwhelmed and obviously this isn't what we were expecting. I guess the positive is that we caught it early and can start monitoring him now rather than if symptoms were to start because we didn't know about it. Let this be a lesson, if you have the means to get an echo done, it is definitely worth it. We would never have taken Sushi in for an echo if not for his brother's condition. He didn't have a heart murmur or anything else to suggest he may have an issue, other than the panting (which as the cardiologist noted is unrelated).
So as it turns out, Sushi's panting doesn't seem to be related to heart disease. That's the good news. The bad news is it turns out he does have a rare heart anomaly at the aorta, like his brother Bowser (two different rare heart diseases... what are the chances?). It isn't subaortic stenosis, but aortic valve dysplasia. Basically due to a valve defect his aortic valve isn't shutting completely which allows blood to flow backwards into the left ventricle. It is moderate backflow only, and the cardiologists said that it's nothing to worry about for now. However, it can potentially lead to issues down the line if it progresses. No medication was recommended, but we will have to take him in for a recheck in a few months. We will schedule the appointment at the same time as his brother's next time so they can keep each other company and I'm really hoping both my boys' conditions stay mild.
We are feeling a little overwhelmed and obviously this isn't what we were expecting. I guess the positive is that we caught it early and can start monitoring him now rather than if symptoms were to start because we didn't know about it. Let this be a lesson, if you have the means to get an echo done, it is definitely worth it. We would never have taken Sushi in for an echo if not for his brother's condition. He didn't have a heart murmur or anything else to suggest he may have an issue, other than the panting (which as the cardiologist noted is unrelated).
