Heart Valve Disease
The heart is a body organ that circulates blood to body cells. According to American Heart Association, the normal heartbeat rate of a person is 60 to 100 times. However, it may increase or decrease by different health conditions. Sometimes, if our heart valve function disturbs due to some reasons. Our blood cannot properly circulate to body cells. This condition called heart valve disease. Approximately 2.5% of Americans are affected by heart valve disease with 28,000 deaths annually in the United States. The situation is not different in Asian countries, where 4.54% of Indians and 2.85% of Pakistanis are victims of heart valve disease.
Highlights
- Heart valve disease is any condition that affects the normal functioning of all or any of the four heart valves.
- Heart valves stretching, stiffness, narrowing or leakage all can result from heart valve disease. Types can be valvular stenosis, valvular insufficiency and valvular atresia.
- Heart attack, congenital heart defects, heart failure and heart infection are major causes of heart valve disease.
- Heart valve disease is a life-threatening condition that may also result in breathing difficulties. Therefore, it requires immediate treatment through surgical repair of heart valves and valve replacement or heart bypass surgery.
What is Heart valve disease?
Heart valve disease is any condition that affects the normal functioning of all or any of the four heart valves. It requires prompt medical treatment or greatly disturbs the heart’s pumping and proper blood circulation throughout the body. Heart valve disease is a life-threatening condition that reduces the quality of well-being, thus affecting the living style of a person. Our heart has a total of four valves:
- Tricuspid and pulmonary valves on the right side of the heart.
- Mitral and aortic valves on the left side of the heart.
Valves on the right side of the heart control movement of deoxygenated blood coming from body cells, in the heart and from the heart to the lungs. Similarly, valves on the left side of the heart control movement of oxygen-rich blood from the lungs into the heart and from the heart to body cells. These four valves basically prevent the mixing of blood moving in four chambers, parts or compartments of the heart.
Types of heart valve disease
There are three types of heart valve disease, with the possibility of all valves weakening simultaneously. Types of heart valve disease are given below:
Valvular stenosis
Our heart valves have small folds of tissues called leaflets. All four heart valves have three leaflets except the mitral valve, which has two leaflets. These leaflets open to allow forward movement of blood during the first half of the heartbeat. In contrast, these leaflets are close to stop the backward movement of blood during the second half of the heartbeat. In the case of valvular stenosis (Figure 1), tissue flats of the leaflets of valves become stiffer and stenotic means narrower. This significantly affects valve opening and reduce blood movement through it. Consequently, the stenotic valve disturbs the heart’s function and heart pumping, resulting in insufficient blood circulation to body cells.
Valvular insufficiency
It happens if valve leaflets are not so efficient in keeping the valve closed during the second half of the heartbeat. As a result, blood starts moving backward, which is called incompetence or regurgitation, and the valve is called a leaky valve. In valvular insufficiency (Figure 2), the heart has to pump the blood hard to avoid backward blood movement, affecting blood circulation to body parts. Valvular insufficiency is more common in the mitral valve present in the left atrium.
Valvular atresia
It is a congenital heart disease due to incomplete or abnormal heart valve development during fetal development. The severity of valvular atresia makes its diagnosis possible in early infancy.
Causes
Common causes of heart valve disease include congenital heart defects, untreated strep throat leading to rheumatic fever, heart attack, heart failure, infective endocarditis or heart infection, advanced stage high blood pressure, heart valve calcification or degeneration, and dilation of the aorta called a thoracic aortic aneurysm.
Symptoms
A few important symptoms of heart valve disease include breathing difficulties, swelling in feet and ankles, irregular heartbeats, muscle fatigue etc.
Diagnosis
To diagnose heart valve disease, chest X-rays, MRI, Echocardiogram (Echo) or heart ultrasound, and Electrocardiogram (ECG) are performed. These tests diagnose an enlarged heart, fluid in the lungs, and heart murmuring means a leaky or stenotic valve. Besides cardiac catheterization, also called an angiogram, the procedure can also diagnose heart valve disease if it relates to the coronary artery. In an angiogram, the surgeon inserts a catheter through your arm or leg and injects a contrast dye directly into the coronary artery through it. Following that, X-rays of your coronary artery can help diagnose heart problems.
Treatment
Treatment of heart valve disease involves surgical repair by placing balloons or catheters to open the heart’s closed valve(s). However, doctors recommend heart bypass surgery for complete heart treatment in severe cases. In bypass surgery, surgeons temporarily reroute your blood into a heart-lung bypass machine so your heart stops working. Following this, the surgeon attaches a new graft of blood vessels around your blocked artery to divert the blood flow. After surgery, doctors prescribe medications that keep your heartbeats regular.
