Key Points

• Heart valve disease is a condition in which one or more of your heart valves don't work properly. The heart has four valves: the tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral, and aortic valves.
• These valves have tissue flaps that open and close with each heartbeat. These flaps make sure blood flows in the right direction through your heart's four chambers and to the rest of your body.
• Heart valves can have three basic kinds of problems:
  • Regurgitation, or backflow, occurs when a valve doesn't close tightly. Blood leaks back into the heart chamber rather than flowing forward through the heart or into an artery.
  • Stenosis occurs when the flaps of a valve thicken, stiffen, or fuse together. This prevents the heart valve from fully opening, and not enough blood flows through the valve.
  • Atresia occurs when a valve lacks an opening for blood to pass through.
• Heart valve disease can make your heart work harder and affect its ability to pump blood. If not treated, advanced heart valve disease can cause heart failure, stroke, blood clots, or sudden death due to sudden cardiac arrest.
• You can be born with heart valve disease or develop it later in life. It's not known what causes the type of valve disease that people are born with. Heart conditions and other disorders, age-related changes, rheumatic fever, and infections can cause heart valve disease that develops later in life.
• The major risk factors for acquired heart valve disease are age, having risk factors for heart disease, and having risk factors for the heart infection endocarditis.
• Many people don't have signs or symptoms of heart valve disease until they're middle-aged or older.
• The main sign of heart valve disease is a heart murmur (an unusual heart sound). Other common signs and symptoms are unusual fatigue (tiredness), shortness of breath, and swelling of your ankles, feet, or abdomen.
• Heart valve disease is diagnosed based on your symptoms, a physical exam, and the results from tests and procedures.
• Currently, no medicines can cure heart valve disease. However, lifestyle changes and medicines often can successfully treat symptoms and delay complications for many years. Eventually, you may need to have your faulty valve repaired or replaced with a man-made or biological valve.
• When possible, heart valve repair is preferred over heart valve replacement. Valve repair preserves the strength and function of the heart muscle. People who have valve repair also have a lower risk for endocarditis after the surgery, and they don't need to take blood-thinning medicines for the rest of their lives.
• To prevent heart valve disease caused by rheumatic fever, see your doctor if you have signs of a strep infection. This infection can cause rheumatic fever, which can damage the heart valves. If you do have a strep infection, take all medicines as prescribed.
• Heart valve disease is a lifelong condition. If you have the condition, it's important to have ongoing medical care. See your doctor regularly. Call your doctor if your signs or symptoms worsen or if you have signs or symptoms of endocarditis. Take all your medicines as prescribed.
• Mild to moderate heart valve disease during pregnancy usually can be managed with medicines or bed rest without posing heightened risks to the mother or fetus. Your doctor can advise you on which medicines are appropriate during pregnancy.
• Severe heart valve disease can make pregnancy or labor and delivery riskier. If you have severe valve disease and/or its symptoms, consider having your heart valves repaired or replaced before getting pregnant. Such repair or replacement also can be done during pregnancy, if needed. But this surgery poses danger to both the mother and fetus.