The Valve Institute

Advanced treatment for heart valve disease

Heart valve disease can disturb the normal flow of blood through the heart. This can affect your overall health and keep you from enjoying the activities you love.

Heart valves can develop one or both of these problems:

• The valve opening becomes narrow (stenotic) – which limits the amount of blood pumped to the rest of the body.
• The valve does not close completely (valve insufficiency or regurgitation) — which means that blood can flow backward instead of only forward. Backward blood flow reduces your heart’s ability to pump blood to the rest of your body. This also causes a buildup of backpressure in your heart and lungs.

Causes of heart valve disease

Heart valve disease can develop before birth (congenital), be acquired during your lifetime, or be the result of an infection. Acquired heart valve disease is the most common. Sometimes the cause is unknown, but it involves changes in the structure of your heart valves as a result of mineral deposits on the valve or surrounding tissue. Infective heart valve disease causes changes to your valves because of diseases such as rheumatic fever or infections.

Symptoms

There are a number of symptoms that may indicate heart valve disease, including:

• Shortness of breath or difficulty catching your breath, especially after you have been active or when you lie down flat in bed.
• Often feeling dizzy or too weak to perform your normal activities.
• Pressure or weight in your chest, especially when you are active or when you go out into cold air.
• Heart palpitations or a feeling that your heart is beating irregularly, skipping beats, or flip-flopping in your chest.
• Swelling in your ankles, feet, or belly.
• Sudden weight gain, possibly as much as two to three pounds in one day.

Symptoms can range from mild to none.

Valve replacement and repair at The Valve Institute

Heart Valve Repair

Heart valve repair is a surgical or minimally invasive procedure that corrects a heart valve that is not functioning properly. Heart valve repair usually involves the heart valve leaflets that open and close to pump blood through the heart. In some cases, your doctor may find that repairing your heart valve is the best way to treat your heart valve disease. One type of valve repair is valvuloplasty, which involves balloon dilation of a stenotic (narrowed) cardiac valve.

Heart Valve Replacement

When repair is not an option, replacing your damaged heart valve may be the most effective treatment for your condition. Heart valve replacement is a surgical procedure that replaces a damaged heart valve with a new valve.

The Valve Institute specializes in the treatment of:

• Aortic Insufficiency
• Aortic Stenosis
• Mitral Valve Prolapse
• Dilated Cardiomyopathy with Mitral Regurgitation

Cardiac Procedures

• Cardiac Catheterization
• Intracardiac Ultrasound
• 2-D and 3-D Echocardiography
• 2-D and 3-D Transesophageal
• Echocardiography (TEE)