Heart Valve disorders are becoming more common and affecting many people’s life. There could be several diseases or conditions related to a valve that can affect the proper functioning of any of the one or more valves in a person’s heart. In this article, we have given an overview of issues related to valve disorders, their causes, symptoms, and treatment.
What Is A Valve Disorder?
Every person has four valves in their heart: a mitral valve, tricuspid valve, aortic valve and pulmonic valve. These ensure the proper flow of blood and have small flaps that close and open with the heartbeat ensuring the flowing of the blood forward in the first half and backward in the second half.
Any condition that affects the functioning of any of these valves can lead to the heart’s inability to circulate blood to the body properly. This can result in improper functioning of the heart and can be life-threatening.
Some of the conditions that can affect valve proper functioning are:
- Rheumatic FeverAging Factors
- Coronary Heart Disease
- Heart Attack
- Birth Defects
- Syphilis
- Infections Etc.
What Are The Symptoms?
A Valve disorder can produce the following symptoms:
- Swelling in areas like feet, ankles and abdomen.
- Weakness
- Palpitations
- Shortness of breath
- Discomfort in chest
- Dizziness
Heart valve disorders can be diagnosed through certain tests like EKG, ECG, Echocardiogram, Angiogram, etc. To reach the absolute conclusion, a doctor may also advise other associated tests.
Treatments Available
Depending upon the kind of severity, kind, and observation of your doctor of the valve disorder, you can expect treatment from any of the following:
Medicines: Medicines are there to relieve your body of symptoms and cannot be an absolute cure of the condition related to any of the valves including the tricuspid valve. Your doctor may advise you on a certain formulation of drugs like Digoxin, Beta-blockers, and calcium channel blockers that will help to regulate the heart rate and also prevent irregular heart rhythms. Further, they can also advise medications to control blood pressure.
Surgery: Surgery can be done to either repair or replace the valve as per the doctor’s observation. Surgery for heart valve repair will involve restructuring the affected valve for its corrected functioning. A doctor can either use prosthetic rings insertion in the valve. While in the case of heart valve replacement, the doctor will replace the entire affected valve with possible options like animal valves, tissue valves, donated human valves, or even mechanical valves made of plastic, steel, etc. Replacement is done in worse cases, that is when a valve is destroyed beyond repair.
Conclusion
Heart valve disorders can cause serious complications to health. The patient affected needs to perform regular doctor visits and follow proper measures in terms of care and medications.
