She underwent surgery to repair a heart valve three years ago.

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At the end of a year, the death rates were the same among the patients who got the valve and those who received open-heart surgery.

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It's been seven months since Max's last surgery -- an open heart pulmonary valve replacement -- and he has been cleared for all activities by his doctors.

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Broadcast journalist Barbara Walters announced this week on The View that she would be leaving to undergo a heart surgery, which would replace a faulty heart valve.

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Traditionally, aortic valve replacement has been performed with open-heart surgery.

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Madden underwent surgery to repair a leaking valve in his heart in 2001 although he returned to the Antrim squad a year later.

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Walters will have surgery later this week to replace a faulty heart valve, and will take the summer off from The View talk show to recuperate.

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He holds a patent on a solution that can preserve organs and one on an aortic valve that can be implanted without highly invasive open-heart surgery.

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