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Suggest Treatment For Valve Regurgitation In The Heart
Question: My mom is in the hospital with a UTI, the MD who saw her today after listening to her heart, said it sounded like she may have a "leaky" heart valve, she is 91.
Brief Answer:
a valve is not working properly
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
there are 4 valves in the heart. Two of them (tricuspid and mitroid) separate the atria from the ventricles. The other two (aortic and pulmonary valve) block (and unblock) the flow to the large blood vessels (aorta and pulmonary artery). When a valve is leaky, it means that it's not completely shut when it should have been and lets blood pass through it. For example the mitroid valve is shut when the left ventricle starts to contract to prevent backward blood flow to the left atrium. When the valve is leaky some blood enters the empty left atrium. If too much blood leaks through the valve then the left atrium receives a much higher quantity of blood and the heart load is increased significantly. Such situations cause a lot of problems to the heart and may lead to heart failure.
I suppose the doctor meant that a murmur was heard during auscultation. An ultrasound scan of the heart is required to evaluate this murmur. The urinary tract infection is irrelevant.
I hope you find my comments helpful!
Kind Regards!
a valve is not working properly
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
there are 4 valves in the heart. Two of them (tricuspid and mitroid) separate the atria from the ventricles. The other two (aortic and pulmonary valve) block (and unblock) the flow to the large blood vessels (aorta and pulmonary artery). When a valve is leaky, it means that it's not completely shut when it should have been and lets blood pass through it. For example the mitroid valve is shut when the left ventricle starts to contract to prevent backward blood flow to the left atrium. When the valve is leaky some blood enters the empty left atrium. If too much blood leaks through the valve then the left atrium receives a much higher quantity of blood and the heart load is increased significantly. Such situations cause a lot of problems to the heart and may lead to heart failure.
I suppose the doctor meant that a murmur was heard during auscultation. An ultrasound scan of the heart is required to evaluate this murmur. The urinary tract infection is irrelevant.
I hope you find my comments helpful!
Kind Regards!
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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