Waiver for Mild Pulmonary Stenosis

[Frank Wang]

Hi there, I'm new to this board and am currently in the process of applying to OCS (SNA or SNFO).

I have been told I have competitive stats for the flight program. I'm expecting to graduate from a top 5 US University next year with a 3.7 GPA and degrees in mathematics (special honors) and statistics. My ASTB score is 72/8/7/7. However, I have some concerns about my medical qualifications so I'm posting here to ask about whether its worth my time to keep going with this.

I was diagnosed with mild pulmonary stenosis at birth. As a minor, I went to annual checkups with a cardiologist until the age of 17 after which my cardiologist told me I should only need to get checkups in five year intervals. For the entirety of my life, I have had no restrictions on activities of any kind, though I imagine Naval aviation would push the boundaries on that a little bit.

I believe this condition falls under Valvular Condition (Other) in the Navy cardiovascular waiver guide. The specific notes state:

WAIVER: Asymptomatic cases with mild functional abnormalities of the tricuspid or pulmonary valves may be considered for waiver in the absence of other pathology.

The condition is asymptomatic and has no effect on my day to day life but since this condition falls under a broad category, I thought it would be best to ask if anyone has any specific knowledge on this before I jump the gun on this and put the next few years of my life on the line.

 

[TimeBomb]

I'm assuming you have pulmonic valvular stenosis, and not pulmonary artery stenosis.

All valvular stenoses are CD for commissioning, and you'll need a waiver simply to get into the military. That will be your first hurdle. Have a current cardiology evaluation and echocardiogram report for your recruiter, so he can forward that to N3M for review. If N3M recommends a waiver for general commissioning, you'll then have to repeat the process with NAMI if you want to try to get a waiver for aviation. Pulmonic stenosis falls under the category you cite, but waivers for candidates are recommended on a case-by-case basis.

Always remember the aperture for candidates is small. A general rule of thumb is that the presence of one cardiac abnormality often portends other cardiac abnormalities, since everything is forming at the same time in the embryo, and whatever process disrupts normal development is affecting the entire heart. With luck, you won't have anything else going on in your heart, but expect to get a very hard look at every step of the process.

R/

 

[Frank Wang]

Thank you for your response, TimeBomb.

I find it amazing that people like you take the time to help us new fellows out. I will do as you suggested.