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Valvular Heart Disease
Make it clearer
The heart has four valves, and valvular heart disease is a problem with one or more of them. They are called the aortic, mitral, pulmonary and tricuspid valves.
A valve is a gate made of leaflets, the flaps or cusps that form it. With every heartbeat those leaflets open to let blood out and close again right away so that it does not flow back. That is their whole job: keeping blood flowing in the right direction.
What can go wrong comes in three forms. Insufficiency, also called regurgitation, is when the valve does not close properly and lets blood flow backward instead of forward. Stenosis is the opposite: the opening becomes too small. And atresia is the extreme: the valve simply has no opening. They are one-way doors: either they close poorly and let blood back, or they do not open enough to let it through.
In brief
Valvular heart disease affects one or more of the four heart valves: aortic, mitral, pulmonary and tricuspid.
Each valve has leaflets that open and close with every heartbeat to keep blood flowing in the right direction.
A valve can fail in three ways: insufficiency, when it does not seal and blood flows backward; stenosis, when the opening is too small; and atresia, when there is no opening.
They are one-way doors: either they close poorly and let blood back, or they do not open enough to let it through.
Sources (2)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of HealthWhat Are Heart Valve Diseases?, National Heart, Lung, and Blood InstitutePublished
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of HealthHeart Valve Diseases: Types, National Heart, Lung, and Blood InstitutePublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated