Valvular heart disease can ultimately lead to heart failure, arrhythmias, stroke, and death.
Its important to have heart valve disease evaluated by acardiologistwho can recommend an appropriate management plan.
The most common forms of valvular heart disease are discussed below.
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Approximately 4 million Americans have significantmitral valve regurgitation, with 250,000 cases diagnosed each year.
One of the most common abnormalities of the mitral valve ismitral valve prolapse.
This condition is harmless in many cases but can lead to significant mitral regurgitation in some people.
Aortic Valve Disease
Aortic stenosisis one of the more common forms of heart valve disease.
In the U.S., aortic stenosis affects 5% of people over the age of 65.
Therapies for Aortic Stenosis
In the past, severe aortic stenosis required open-heart surgery to treat.
Tricuspid Valve Disease
Thetricuspidvalve is one of the right-sided heart valves.
It separates the right atrium and right ventricle.
About 7% of people born with congenital heart disease have narrowing of the pulmonic valve.
In general, the more severe the valvular heart disease, the higher the mortality.
Mortality rate, on the other hand, is the proportion of people not surviving after the specified time.
This is called cardiac auscultation and it helps them identify aheart murmur.
What is a Heart Murmur?
A heart murmur is a noise that blood makes when flowing through the heart.
It is not always a sign of a problem with the heart’s valves.
For example, pregnant people can have harmless murmurs due to the increased blood flow through normal valves.
However, a murmur can sometimes be the first indication of a potential heart valve problem.
Some forms of heart valve disease only need to be monitored with echocardiograms every year or so.
The most commonly affected valves are the mitral and aortic valves.
Heart valve disease is diagnosed using echocardiography, and managed by cardiologists.
Reach out to your healthcare provider with questions about early detection and screenings.
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