Under normal circumstances, the heart will pump blood in a single direction. The valves of the heart play an integral role in ensuring that this blood flow is only one way; and they do this by opening and shutting with each heartbeat. The pressure changes that occur on either side of the valves will cause for them to open up their doors that are flap-like (cusps or even leaflets) and they will then close tightly, so as to avoid any type of backflow of blood. There are ideally 4 types of valves that are found in the heart – Tricuspid Valve Pulmonary Valve Mitral Valve Aortic Valve In the United States of America alone, there are known to be about 99,000 heart valve surgeries that are conducted in a single year. A sizeable chunk of this number would be operations that are done in order to repair or even  [...]

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the name of a condition wherein one of the valves of the heart (mitral valve) will not work properly. The flaps of the valve will be ‘floppy’ and this is what will come in the way of them closing properly. In most cases, MVP will not cause for any known problems. Only in rare cases will the blood end up leaking in the wrong direction through this defective floppy valve. If and when this happens, it will bring on symptoms like palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain and other such symptoms. About the Mitral Valve: Ideally the mitral valve is that valve that is responsible for the control of blood flow between the left chambers of your heart; and this would include the  [...]

When a person has aortic valve insufficiency with or without regurgitation and stenosis and it has been determined that a replacement is need this is done by a surgical procedure of the heart known as heart valve replacement surgery. This procedure may be done in one of two ways which are with open heart surgery or through the use of a catheter which is known as percutaneous heart valve replacement surgery of PAVR. When replacing heart valves there are two basic types of valves which are used, those that are made from living tissues, usually of animals and those which are mechanical. Tissue valves are most commonly created with the use of animal tissues of the heart valve or pericardial tissue in order to prevent issues with being rejected by the body of the recipient as well as the occurrence of calcification. In some cases it may even be possible for a person to choose what is called a homograft  [...]

The flow of blood to the heart is controlled by four valves one of which is the aortic valve. This valve allows blood that is pumped from the left ventricle of the heart to travel to the main artery called the aorta. This artery leads to all areas of the body. When the aorta valve sustains damage or functions improperly it results in aortic valve insufficiency. This is a common occurrence among elderly individual’s and is the cause of a large number of valvular defects of the heart. Aortic stenosis results when the aortic valve narrows to a point that prevents an adequate amount of blood being pumped out each time the heart beats which causes the heart to have to work overtime as a result. On the other hand if improper closing is the problem it causes aortic regurgitation meaning that the blood that is pumped out seeps back into the heart with each beat. In either case an increase of the workload of the ventricle occurs and often results in the muscular wall becoming  [...]

Aortic valve stenosis also referred to simply as aortic stenosis is a condition that is caused by the narrowing of the aortic valve of the heart. This in turn keeps the valve from opening all the way which causes the flow of blood from the heart to the aorta and the rest of the body to be decreased or blocked. This condition causes the heart to have to work harder to pump blood to the body and therefore weakens the heart and decreases the amount of blood it is able to pump causing such symptoms as dizziness and fatigue. When this happens surgery is often needed to replace the defective valve and if not treated can result in serious health issues. This condition often varies in severity from mild to extreme and usually only occur when the narrowing of the valve is extreme. Some symptoms of this may include, pain or tightness of the chest, fainting or feeling as if you will faint or becoming short of breath after strenuous activity, fatigue and heart murmur or palpitations. When  [...]