OVERVIEW | SYMPTOMS | DIAGNOSIS | TREATMENT

Every time your heart beats, blood flows into, through, and out of your heart. Blood is pumped through yourheart in only one direction. Heart valves play key roles in this one-way blood flow, opening and closing with each heartbeat. Pressure changes behind and in front of the valves allow them to open their flap-like "doors" -- called cusps or leaflets -- at just the right time, then close them tightly to prevent a backflow of blood.

Valve disease is often considered a problem of the elderly. However, the disease can afflict people at any age and sometimes is congenital. As our population ages, it is predicted that the prevalence of valve disease with rise significantly, as will the cost of treating these patients.

Why Choose St. Luke's for Treatment of Valvular Heart Disease?

• Access to clinical trials. St. Luke's offers the latest treatment options, including serving as the site for a clinical trial of an innovative, minimally invasive procedure for severe aortic stenosis, a life-threatening heart valve condition.
• Focus on valvular heart disease. Texas Heart® Institute recently established the Center for Heart Valve Disease, which will focus on all aspects of valvular heart disease, including improved replacement procedures with less invasive technology and the use of adult stem cell therapy.

Four values in the heart are:

• Tricuspid valve
• Pulmonary valve
• Mitral valve
• Aortic valve

Two problems that disrupt blood flow though the valves:

• Regurgitation. Also called insufficiency or incompetence, it happens when a valve doesn't close properly and blood leaks backward instead of moving in the proper one-way flow. If too much blood flows backward, only a small amount can travel forward to your body's organs. Your heart tries to make up for this by working harder, but with time your heart will become enlarged (dilated) and less able to pump blood through your body.
• Stenosis. Happens when the leaflets do not open wide enough and only a small amount of blood can flow through the valve. Stenosis results when the leaflets thicken, stiffen, or fuse together. Because of the narrowed valve, your heart must work harder to move blood through your body.

What Causes Valve Disease?
Before doctors started giving their patients antibiotics, rheumatic fever was the single biggest cause of valve disease. Today the cause is most likely linked to:

• Weakening of the valve tissue. Caused by energy changes in the body, this is called myxomatous degeneration. It happens most often in elderly patients and commonly affects the mitral valve.
• Calcium buildup on the aortic or mitral valves. This causes the valves to thicken and is called calcific degeneration.
• Irregularly shaped aortic valve or a narrowed mitral valve. This is usually a congenital defect, which means that most people who have it were born with it.   
• Anti-obesity medicines fen-phen and Redux. These were removed from the market after being linked to heart valve disease.   
• Infection in the lining of the heart's walls and valves (the endocardium). This is called infective endocarditis.   
• Coronary artery disease   
• Heart attack

Find a Heart Specialist:   (832) 355-DOCS (3627)
International Patients:     (832) 355-3350