Mitral Valve Prolapse (Print Version)

Also called: Also called: Barlow's syndrome, Floppy valve syndrome, MVP

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) occurs when one of your heart's valves doesn't work properly. MVP is one of the more common heart valve conditions. Most often, it's a lifelong condition that a person is born with. Most people with MVP have no symptoms or problems, need no treatment, and are able to lead normal, active lives.

MVP puts you at risk for infective endocarditis, a kind of heart infection. To prevent it, doctors used to prescribe antibiotics before dental work or certain surgeries. Now, only people at high risk of endocarditis need the antibiotics.

If you need treatment for MVP, medicines can help relieve symptoms or prevent complications. Very few people will need surgery to repair or replace the mitral valve.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Start Here

Mitral Valve Prolapse(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) - http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/mvp/mvp_whatis.html
Mitral Valve Prolapse(Patient Education Institute) - Requires Flash Player - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/mitralvalveprolapse/htm/index.htm
Also available in Spanish http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/tutorials/mitralvalveprolapsespanish/htm/index.htm
Mitral Valve Prolapse: What You Should Know(American Academy of Family Physicians) - http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/articles/598.printerview.html
Also available in Spanish http://familydoctor.org/online/famdoces/home/articles/598.printerview.html

Overviews

Mitral Valve Prolapse(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/mitral-valve-prolapse/DS00504/DSECTION=all&METHOD=print

Diagnosis/Symptoms

Doppler Ultrasound: What Is It Used for?(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/doppler-ultrasound/AN00511/METHOD=print
Echocardiogram(Patient Education Institute) - Requires Flash Player - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/echocardiogram/htm/index.htm
Also available in Spanish http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/tutorials/echocardiogramspanish/htm/index.htm
Echocardiography(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) - http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/echo/echo_whatis.html

Treatment

Mitral Valve Repair(Society of Thoracic Surgeons) - http://www.sts.org/sections/patientinformation/valvesurgery/mitralvalverepair/
Mitral Valve Replacement(Society of Thoracic Surgeons) - http://www.sts.org/sections/patientinformation/valvesurgery/mitralvalvereplacement/

Related Issues

Mitral Valve Regurgitation(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/mitral-valve-regurgitation/DS00421/DSECTION=all&METHOD=print
New Guidelines Regarding Antibiotics to Prevent Infective Endocarditis(American Heart Association) - http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3047051

Tutorials

Echocardiogram(Patient Education Institute) - Requires Flash Player - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/echocardiogram/htm/index.htm
Also available in Spanish http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/tutorials/echocardiogramspanish/htm/index.htm
Mitral Valve Prolapse(Patient Education Institute) - Requires Flash Player - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/mitralvalveprolapse/htm/index.htm
Also available in Spanish http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/tutorials/mitralvalveprolapsespanish/htm/index.htm

Videos

Beating Heart Mitral Valve Replacement(OR-Live) - Requires Flash Player - One hour program - 1/08/2008 - http://www.or-live.com/distributors/nlm-flash/mof_1983/rnh.cfm?id=623
Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Repair(OR-Live) - Requires media player - One hour program - 03/09/2005 - http://www.or-live.com/distributors/NLM/rnh.cfm?id=164
Mitral Valve Repair Surgery(OR-Live) - Requires Flash Player - One hour program - 8/22/2007 - http://www.or-live.com/distributors/NLM-Flash/lob_1791/rnh.cfm?id=628
Mitral Valve Repair Surgery(OR-Live) - Requires Flash Player - One hour program - 10/23/2007 - http://www.or-live.com/distributors/nlm-flash/waf_1559/rnh.cfm?id=650
Repair of Mitral Valve Regurgitation with an Annuloplasty Ring(OR-Live) - Requires media player - One hour program - 6/28/2006 - http://www.or-live.com/distributors/NLM/rnh.cfm?id=316

Anatomy/Physiology

Heart Anatomy(Texas Heart Institute) - http://www.texasheartinstitute.org/HIC/Anatomy/anatomy2.cfm
Also available in Spanish http://www.texasheartinstitute.org/HIC/Anatomy_Esp/anato_sp.cfm

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Mitral Valve Prolapse(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/condition=%22Mitral+Valve+Prolapse%22

Journal Articles

References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Article: Angiotensinogen M235T associated with mitral valve prolapse in young Han... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18794618&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Toward a new paradigm for the reconstruction of posterior leaflet... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18721552&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: In the 1980s I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse.... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18697238&tool=MedlinePlus
Mitral Valve Prolapse -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=mitral+valve+prolapse[majr]+AND+humans[mh]+NOT+letter[pt]+AND+english[la]&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus

Medical Encyclopedia

Mitral Valve Prolapse - http://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?v:project=medlineplus&binning-state=group%3d%3dMedical%20Encyclopedia&query=Mitral+Valve+Prolapse

Dictionaries/Glossaries

Heart Surgery Terms(Society of Thoracic Surgeons) - http://www.sts.org/sections/patientinformation/otherresources/heartsurgterms/

Directories

Find a Society of Thoracic Surgeons Member(Society of Thoracic Surgeons) - http://www.sts.org/sections/membership/findamember/

Organizations

American Heart Association - http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute - http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/
Society of Thoracic Surgeons - http://www.sts.org/sections/patientinformation/

Children

Mitral Valve Prolapse(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/heart/mvp.html

You may also be interested in these MedlinePlus related pages:

Heart Valve Diseases - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/heartvalvediseases.html
Blood, Heart and Circulation - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/bloodheartandcirculation.html

The primary NIH organization for research on Mitral Valve Prolapse is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute - http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/