A heart valve disease is a kind of a heart condition which occurs when the valves of the heart do not work as they are expected to work. Heart valves are located at the exits of the four heart chambers and help in maintaining the one-way blood flow through the heart.
The four valves ensure the fact that the blood always flows in the forward direction and not the backward direction. Thus valves perform an important task of avoiding any kind of blood leakage in the backward direction. There are different types of heart valve problems and if you wish to know about them, you can read the following information:
Heart valve disorders are generally caused by serious infections and degenerative diseases. There are two major types of heart valve conditions which are mentioned in the following part of the article.
Valvular Regurgitation
This condition is also known as ‘leaky valve’ and occurs when the heart valve does not close properly. This disease results in the blood leakage in the backward direction into the four chambers. Due to this, blood does not flow in the forward direction into an artery. In this condition, the heart has to work harder and less amount of blood may be available to flow in the body.
Valvular Regurgitation is generally found to be occurring in the Mitral heart valve but it can also be prevalent in the other three heart valves as well. Those people who have a history of valve stenosis or prolapse have a higher risk of this heart valve disorder. In fact individuals who have had a heart attack, or use migraine medications can also develop this disease of the heart.
Valvular Stenosis
Valvular Stenosis is the second type of the heart valve problem. This condition occurs in the case where the leaflets of one of the heart valves have become either stiff or have joined or fused together. Due to this stiffness, they may not allow the heart valve to open fully as it should otherwise.
Valvular Stenosis makes the heart work very hard to pump blood into the arteries and this extra effort may lead to heart attack or heart failure as well. In fact this condition of the heart valve may result in other complex cardiac conditions which have to be treated by an experienced heart specialist. Stenosis can occur in any of the four heart valves and the risk of this disease increase with age.
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