Heart Valve Diseases

Heart Valve Diseases

In a normal person, the heart contracts an average of 100 thousand times a day and continues to pump blood. During this process, the pumped heart reaches the body through the valves. There are 4 chambers in the heart, 2 large and 2 small. The chambers on the left side are clean; the chambers on the right side allow the blood to pass the dirty blood to the lungs.

Heart Valve Surgery

Problems diagnosed in the heart valves can be repaired and treated with different methods. The primary aim is to protect cardiovascular health with medication and surgical interventions.  The patient first undergoes a detailed intervention. The degree of the disease is diagnosed precisely by applying tests such as ECG, Angio, ECHO.

If surgical intervention is decided, correction of the heart valves should be performed. In this process, patients should be informed in a qualified manner. Patients who undergo a heart valve replacement procedure called bioprosthesis will need to use medication and may experience heart valve problems again years later.

What Causes Heart Valve Disease?

– Rheumatic fever

– Infectious Endocarditis

– Diseases of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)

– Hypertension

– Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP): It is the escape of the mitral valve back into the left atrium with heart movements.

– Fibrocalcific degeneration

– Valve annulus enlargement (connective tissue diseases, aortic aneurysms, tumours, some drugs)

What are the Symptoms of Heart Valve Diseases?

– Fatigue

– Palpitation

– Shortness of breath

– Swelling in the legs

– Embolism (clot)

– Paralysis

– Rhythm problems

How Are Heart Valve Diseases Treated?

Heart valve problems can cause life-threatening in the progressive process as well as interrupting people’s daily life. Therefore, it must be treated. Depending on the cause and degree of the problem in the heart valves, appropriate treatment planning is made. The general health status of the patient is also one of the important determining factors in treatment planning.

Heart valve diseases can be treated with mechanical and biological valve surgery techniques or valve repair method. These applications can be performed with both open and closed surgery methods. Today, heart valve surgeries can be performed comfortably with minimally invasive heart surgery and underarm heart surgery methods.

What are the Types of Heart Valve Diseases?

Aortic valve stenosis: Rheumatic fever, advanced age-related degeneration, congenital bicuspid aortic disease (congenital aortic valve has 2 leaflets instead of 3 leaflets)

Aortic valve insufficiency

Coexistence of stenosis and insufficiency:

Especially after rheumatic fever, stenosis and insufficiency may often coexist. Treatment procedures are not different from aortic stenosis and insufficiency.

Mitral valve stenosis:

It is the most common valve disease after rheumatic fever. Mitral valve stenosis is the most common disorder among all valve diseases. Since there is a problem in the passage of blood from the left atrium to the left ventricle, the forward movement of the blood is prevented. Accordingly, shortness of breath, palpitations, rhythm problems, embolism, heart failure findings may occur.