Heart valve disease

Your heart is a muscle which pumps blood to your lungs and around the rest of your body.

There are four chambers to your heart which are separated by valves to make sure that the blood flows in one direction through the heart.

The two large blood vessels that leave the heart also have valves to make sure that the blood does not go back into the heart once it has been pumped out.

What causes heart valve disease?

The main causes of heart valve disease are:

• being born with an abnormal valve or valves (congenital heart disease)
• having had rheumatic fever
• cardiomyopathy - a disease of the heart muscle
• damage to the heart muscle from a heart attack
• getting older
• a previous infection with endocarditis.

What happens to heart valves?

A diseased or damaged valve can affect the flow of blood in two ways:

• If the valve does not open fully, it will obstruct the flow of blood. This is called valve stenosis or narrowing.
• If the valve does not close properly, it will allow blood to leak backwards. This is called valve incompetence or regurgitation or a leaky valve. 

Both of these will put extra strain on the heart and if you have stenosis, the valve can restrict the flow of blood making your heart pump harder to force the blood past the narrowing. If you have incompetence, a leaking valve may mean that your heart has to do extra work to pump the required volume of blood through the heart.

What are the symptoms of heart valve disease?

You may not experience any symptoms but if you so some of the common symptoms are:

• being out of breath
• swelling of the ankles and feet
• being unusually tired

How is heart valve disease diagnosed?

You may be visiting your doctor because you are experiencing some of the symptoms listed above. Or you may not have any symptoms but your doctor has said that they can hear a murmur (an unusual sound) when they listen to your heart. A murmur does not always mean that there is a problem with your heart as people with normal hearts may also have murmurs.

Your doctor may suggest that you have further tests to see how well your heart is working. The most common test is an echocardiogram which uses sounds waves to look at the structure of your heart. It is similar to an ultrasound scan used to look at babies before they are born.

How is heart valve disease treated?

You may not need any treatment at all but your doctor may ask you to come back in a year's time or if your symptoms get worse. Most valve problems however can be treated using medicines or by surgery. Your treatment will depend on the cause of your problem and the effect that it is having on your heart.

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