The heart has four valves — tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral and aortic — each
with flaps that open to let blood through when the heart beats and close
between beats to stop it flowing backwards. Heart valve disease is any of
them not working properly, which affects blood flow and strains the heart.
Treatment helps most valve diseases.
Three kinds of fault
| What happens | |
|---|---|
| Regurgitation (backflow) | The flaps do not close tightly and blood leaks backwards. A common cause is prolapse, where the flaps flop or bulge back — most often the mitral valve |
| Stenosis | The flaps become thick, stiff or stuck together, so the valve cannot open fully and not enough blood passes. Aortic valve stenosis is a common type |
| Atresia | The valve did not form properly and has no opening at all |
A valve can have both regurgitation and stenosis.
The link people never make
**An untreated strep throat can become rheumatic fever, which can harm the
heart valves — and the damage may not show up for years.**
A sore throat in childhood, a heart valve replaced in middle age. Nothing in
the experience connects them, and without the medical history nobody would.
**Today, most people take antibiotics that cure strep throat before it can
cause heart valve damage.** That sentence is a public health achievement
hiding in a list of risk factors: a whole category of valve disease largely
prevented by treating a common childhood illness.
The other risks
- Age — with time, valves can become thick and stiff
- Endocarditis — a rare infection of the lining of the heart and the
valves, usually from bacteria in the bloodstream - A heart attack
- Heart failure
- Coronary artery disease, especially where it affects the aorta
Some people are born with heart valve disease — congenital valve disease,
alone or alongside other congenital heart defects. Others develop it with age
or from the conditions above.
Source: MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from medlineplus.gov
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