Calcified Valve Leaflets - Form Of Heart Valve Disease
As you can read in my story, I had aortic valve replacement because my aortic heart valve suffered from severe stenosis and regurgitation. One of the key reasons for my valve disease was the calcification of my heart valve leaflets. Said differently, I had calcified valve leaflets.
According to The Cleveland Clinic, fibro-calcific degeneration most commonly affects the aortic valve. According to reports, calcified heart valves typically occurs in adults over the age of 65.
When valve leaflets are calcified, the valve leaflets become fibrotic (thickened) and calcified (hardened), producing a narrowed valve opening. Risk factors for this type of valve disease include increased age, low body weight and high blood pressure.
The photograph below shows the aortic valve with a short segment of the aorta around it. The valve clearly has only two cusps (bicuspid aortic valve), and is narrowed and densely calcified. If you placed your fingertip through the opening,
the valve would feel hard and gritty.
A doctor may suspect aortic valve sclerosis on hearing a heart murmur with a stethoscope. However, an ultrasound of the heart (echocardiogram) can distinguish between aortic valve sclerosis and stenosis and check for other possible causes of a heart murmur. Calcified valve leaflets can also impact each of the other valves within the heart - the aortic valve, the mitral valve, the tricuspid valve and the pulmonary valve.
 My Story With Calcified Heart Valve Leaflets?
Two weeks after my aortic valve replacment surgery, I met with my surgeon, Dr. Vaughn Starnes at USC Medical Center. Doctor Starnes told me that my aortic valve was in "very, very bad shape and that it was very good timing that I had the operation when I did." Dr. Starnes also emphasized that my bicuspid aortic valve leaflets were very calcified, very white and really impacting the flow of blood through my heart and body.
>> NEXT: To learn more about treatment of calcified heart valve leaflets, please click here.
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