“Narrow Heart Valves? Stenosis?” Asks Cathy
I just received an email from Cathy about her mother. The note reads, “Dear Adam - My mom has been diagnosed with a narrow heart valve. I believe it’s her mitral valve that’s the problem. Is narrow valve disease the same thing as stenosis?”
The simple answer to Cathy’s question is “Yes”. The medical term for narrow heart valve disorder is stenosis. Personally, I had stenosis of my aortic valve which led to my valve surgery.
Mitral Valve Stenosis - Narrow Heart Valve
Narrow heart valves impact the rate at which blood pass through a heart valve. This can impact the heart and body in many different ways including manifested symptoms, an enlarged heart, and other precursors to congestive heart valve. Stenosis is often categorized as “mild”, “moderate” or “severe” depending on how narrow (impacted) the heart valve leaflets have become due to calcification, infection or tissue degeneration.
Each of the heart valves - aortic, mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary - can become narrowed although it is most common in the aortic and mitral valves.
I hope that helps Cathy and you better understand narrow heart valves and stenosis.
Keep on tickin!
About The Author: Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery, a unique book which integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of 78 former valve surgery patients. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.
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