Have you ever wondered how blood flows through the heart and body?

Have you ever wondered how your heart valves help manage the flow of blood through your heart?

If so, click the play button on this educational video to learn (i) how blood flows through the heart and (ii) how each heart valve (aortic valve, mitral valve, tricuspid valve and pulmonary valve) ensure the flow of blood in one direction through the body.  Please remember to have the sound on your computer turned on.

To learn more about the topics referenced in this video, please click the hyperlinks below:

• Human Heart Anatomy
• Heart Valve Diagrams

I hope you enjoyed this video about blood flow through the heart.

Keep on tickin!

I’ve said it before and I will say it again…

There is nothing better than turning on my computer, opening my email inbox and reading an inspirational, patient success story from one of my readers. This morning, I learned about Steve’s recovery from heart valve replacement surgery which was complicated by an infection and six days in a coma.

Steve Returns To Racing After Heart Valve Replacement

Here is what Steve writes:

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I recently received a very interesting email from Shannon about heart surgery, pregnancy, labor and baby delivery. In her note to me, Shannon asks for help from other patients about delivering a baby after heart valve surgery. Can you help her?

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Every once-in-a-while I receive a forwarded email that resets my focus on life.

Earlier today, my sister, Monica, sent me an email titled, “A Mayonnaise Jar & Two Beers”. Given the nature of this website, I found the fundamental message of this story to be very appropriate for those dealing with the stress of heart valve surgery.

So, without further ado, I offer you “A Mayonnaise Jar & Two Beers”:

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the two beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

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Kenny writes to me, “Hi Adam – My grandma needs open heart surgery, according to my parents. They tell me she has mitral regurgitation and it’s really bad. I’m curious to know, “Can a heart valve heal itself?”. What do you think? Kenny”

I really wish a simple and emphatic ‘Yes!’ would answer Kenny’s question. It would be sooooooooo incredibly wonderful if a heart valve could heal itself – like a cold or a broken bone.

Unfortunately, heart valves do not tend to heal themselves. It is true that some infants born with heart murmurs will eventually grow out of the murmur as the heart matures. But, in all of my research, I have yet to hear, read or see a patient story in which a valvular disorder (e.g. aortic valve stenosis, aortic regurgitation, mitral valve regurgitation) naturally heals by itself.

Some might suggest that the use of stem cells could offer a natural process in which a human heart valve can heal itself. However, from my research, that would require a stem cell valve cloning and an open heart procedure to replace the valve. In my opinion, that process doesn’t really sound like a situation in which a human heart valve heals itself.

I hope this helps Kenny (and perhaps you) learn more about the question, “Does a heart valve heal itself?”

Keep on tickin!