Heart Valve Disease Overview
Heart valve disease occurs when one or more of your heart valves don't work properly.
Each year, millions of Americans are diagnosed with heart valve problems.
Complications of heart valve disease
When a heart valve does not open all the way, or has problems closing, blood doesn’t move through the heart’s chambers the way it should, which can leave you weak and short of breath.
Left untreated, heart valve disease can lead to stroke or heart failure.
About the UPMC Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
UPMC's Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery is the largest heart surgery program in western Pennsylvania and one of the largest in the United States.
We offer standard and minimally invasive procedures to treat heart valve disease and other serious heart diseases and defects.
What distinguishes our program?
- Our subspecialty centers — for evaluating and managing heart valve disease. Our Valve Center is one of only a few sites in the country where a TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) clinical trial is taking place.
- Our cardiac surgeons — pioneers of novel cardiac surgical procedures, including new techniques for durable valve repair on both mitral and aortic valves.
- Our experience — our surgeons have performed over 2,700 valve procedures in the last three years.
Diagnosing Heart Valve Disease
Birth defects, age-related changes, infections, or other conditions can damage one or more of your heart valves:
- Aortic
- Mitral
- Pulmonic
- Tricuspid
This can make your heart work harder and affect its ability to pump blood.
Heart valves can develop one or both of these problems:
- Regurgitation — also known as a leaky valve, occurs when a valve doesn’t close tightly, allowing blood to leak back into the chambers instead of flowing forward through the heart.
- Stenosis — occurs when a valve doesn’t open fully open. The valve may have become hardened or stiff from calcium deposits or scarring, narrowing the opening and restricting blood flow.
Symptoms of heart valve disease
In people whose heart valve disease comes on severely and suddenly, symptoms can occur quickly.
If your disease develops slowly and your heart has time to adjust, you may barely notice your symptoms.
Symptoms of heart valve disease include:
- Shortness of breath
- Heart palpitations
- Swelling of your ankles, feet, or abdomen
- Weakness or dizziness
- Quick weight gain
- Chest discomfort
Testing for heart valve disease
Your doctor may diagnose a heart valve problem during a physical exam by using a stethoscope to listen for a murmur (an abnormal heart sound).
Additional tests may include:
Testing results
Your doctor or nurse will tell you when to expect your test results and will call you when they're available.
Heart Valve Disease Treatments
UPMC's Heart and Vascular Institute offers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to treating heart valve disease.
Our team of cardiologists, cardiovascular imaging experts, heart valve and aortic experts, and other specialists use state-of-the-art diagnostic procedures to determine the type and severity of your heart valve disease and tailor treatments for your specific condition.
| Mild to moderate |
- Medicines and lifestyle changes to relieve symptoms and lower risk of developing a life-threatening condition
|
| Moderate to severe |
- Heart valve repair or replacement surgery
|
Exploring new treatments
Historically, treatment options for heart valve disease has been limited to surgical valve replacement and medical therapy.
TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) is a promising treatment alternative for people with severe heart valve disease who are at high surgical risk.
UPMC is now actively enrolling for the Medtronic CoreValve® U.S. Pivotal Trial. For more information e-mail ValveCenter@upmc.edu.
Learn more about heart and vascular treatments at UPMC.