Mitral Valve Prolapse

The flow of blood through the heart is controlled by four valves. If any are not working correctly, blood cannot flow or be pumped effectively to the heart. The four valves are: the tricuspid, pulmonary semilunar, mitral, and aortic semilunar. There are many abnormalities or defects that can affect their operation and in this paper, I will discuss the most common one which is a “mitral valve prolapse.” A valvular prolapse is an abnormal protrusion of a heart valve that causes the valve to not close completely. It is also known as “click murmur syndrome” and “Barlow’s syndrome” and is more prevalent in women than men. It has a strong hereditary

Mitral valve prolapse is caused by the expansion of a mitral valve leaflet with elongation of the chordae tendineae.(Barlow et al.) This can be seen in Figure #.(Barlow et al.) Elongation of the chordae tendineae leads to the rupture of the chordae tendineae and dilation of the mitral valve.(Boudoulas and Boudoulas) Mitral valve prolapse is most frequently caused by myxomatous degeneration of the valve leaflets and chordae tendineae which thickens the leaflet.(Irvine et

Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP) is also knows as Barlow’s Syndrome or Click Murmur Syndrome and it affects about 2-6% of the United States population. While Mitral Valve Prolapse is one of the most common heart valve abnormality that can develop in any person at any age. It is usually not life-threatening and the patient might not even have symptoms. A patient might feel symptoms such as Fatigue, chest pain, or palpitations, which will cause a doctor to run tests such as an echocardiogram; causing a detection and confirmation of the Mitral valve prolapse. The MVP abnormality is caused when one or both of the mitral valve flaps are enlarged or have extra tissue. Causing the valve leaflets to not close correctly and allow leakage of blood back into

Although Mitral Valve Prolapse has existed for many years, there are a few facts a person should know while being diagnosed with this disease. Mitral Valve Prolapse is the most common valve abnormality in the U.S (Gillinov 517). About two to three percent of the population has Mitral Valve Prolapse (Gillinov 517). Of that percentage, very few need surgery due to a severe leak (Gillinov 326). If surgical treatment is necessary, a person receiving a non-surgical valve can most likely receive a 20 percent greater chance to live at least 1 year after treatment, compared to patients receiving medication alone (Gillinov 517). This means many people who were born or diagnosed with a valve problem can most likely be diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse over any other heart valve disease. When a father or a mother has Mitral Valve Prolapse, this creates a very high chance when they have a child, the child will be born having

Methods: we prospectively enrolled 30 patients who had moderate rheumatic aortic regurgitation associated with pure rheumatic mitral stenosis in 15 patients ( group S) and 15 patients with pure rheumatic mitral incompetence ( group R). Quantification of the degree of the aortic incompetence done by echocardiography using the percentage of the width of the regurgitant get to the width of the left ventricular outflow tract ( LVOT). All patients had mitral valve surgery through a median sternotomy with cardiopulmonary bypass. The follow-up of the patients done over one year period by both clinical and echocardiography to estimate the progression of the degree of aortic incompetence postoperatively.

Located in between the left atrium and the left ventricle is the bicuspid or better known as the mitral valve. The mitral valve works to prevent the back-flow of blood into the left atrium once it enters the left ventricle. This action may become hindered when the mitral valve prolapses or in other words the valve becomes “floppy” and is no longer strong or tough enough to handle the normal stresses brought upon it. This condition is known as Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP). It is said to be one of the most common cardiac abnormalities in the general population, effecting 2-3%, approximately 7.8 million people in the United States and over 176 million people worldwide.

Tricuspid regurgitation is a disorder in which the heart’s tricuspid valve does not close properly, causing blood to flow backward into the atrium when the right ventricle contracts. The most common cause of tricuspid regurgitation is enlargement of the right ventricle [1], caused by left-sided valvular lesions. Mitral valve disease is often accompanied by concomitant tricuspid valve disease. The most common indication for tricuspid valve intervention is tricuspid regurgitation (TR), and the presence of significant TR has been reported to be an important prognostic indicator of outcomes following mitral valve surgery [2]. Surgical treatment of tricuspid valve regurgitation (TR) with left-sided valvular disease still remains a challenge for

Mitral Valve Prolapse is a common cardiac disorder, affecting two to three percent of the general population annually (Delling & Vasan, 2014). Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is characterized by changes in the mitral leaflet tissue with displacement of the one or both leaflets into the left atrium of the heart. Because the leaflets do not close tightly to seal the valve, they are commonly referred to as being “floppy”. The mitral valve allows blood to flow from the left ventricle into the left atrium of the heart, and when the leaflets become floppy it can cause backflow of the blood, also known as regurgitation (Delling & Vasan, 2014). This backflow of blood, or regurgitation, causes a murmur or turbulent blood flow, which can be heard on auscultation.

The left side of the heart, has the left atrium and ventricle that takes in oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it out of the aorta.

Heart murmurs can be heard when a physician listens to the heart through a stethoscope during a regular check-up. Very loud heart murmurs and those with clicks or extra heart sounds should be evaluated further. Infants with heart murmurs who do not thrive, eat, or breath properly and older children who lose consciousness suddenly or are intolerant to exercise should also be evaluated. If the murmur sounds suspicious, the physician may order a chest x ray, an electrocardiogram, and an echocardiogram.

Both the right and left atrium contract causing blood to flow though the two valves, and then into the left ventricle. The left ventricle pumps blood into the systemic circulation through the aorta. This systemic circulation system is much bigger than the pulmonary circulation system, which is why the left ventricle is so big. The blood on the left side of the heart is oxygenated. It becomes oxygenated when the deoxygenated blood passes through the right atrium and then flows into the left ventricle. It is then pumped along the pulmonary artery into the lungs where it is oxygenated. It then travels through the pulmonary veins back into the heart. It enters through the left atrium and then travels to the left ventricle. This process is repeated over and over again, to make blood continuously flow through the heart, lungs and body. This process ensures that there is always enough oxygen for the body to work

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is caused by a myriad of complications including, ischemic, infectious and degenerative changes in the valve structure. (Huether, McCance, p. 628) This alters the function of the mitral valve causing it to bulge backwards into the left atrium. (Huether, McCance, p. 628) MVP can lead to mitral regurgitation (MR) in which the blood flows backwards or is regurgitated into the left atrium. MVP can be single leaflet or bilieaflet prolapse referred to as SiMVP and BiMVP. (Nordhues, B.2015)

The role of the bicuspid valve is used to flow blood through the left atrium to the left ventricle. This is mostly called the mitral valve. The function of the aortic valve is to open so that blood can enter the heart. Also the aortic valve closes the left chamber which hold oxygen rich blood this is then pumped out of the body.

The four valves of the heart are the tricuspid valve, the pulmonic valve, the mitral valve, and the aortic valve. The tricuspid valve is located between the right atrium and the right ventricle. It is responsible for allowing blood to flow from the atrium to the ventricle, preventing backflow of blood into the atrium. The pulmonic valve is located between the pulmonary arteries and the right ventricle and is responsible for allowing blood flow from the heart to the lungs. The mitral valve is found between the left atrium and the left ventricle, which allow blood to flow from the left atrium into the left ventricle preventing backflow of blood back into the left atrium. The aortic valve is found between the aorta and the left ventricle and allows blood to flow to the aorta and throughout the body.

Defects in the valves of a heart can lead to regurgitation, and stenosis. Common symptoms include angina, shortness of breaths and heart failure. These defects affect the heart functionality. As a result, artificial heart valves are used to replace these defective valves. One artificial heart valve is the St. Jude Bileaflet valve.