Heart Valve Pictures Of Regular Valves And Diseased Heart Valves
By Adam Pick on September 30, 2007
I’ll never forget my second opinion from Dr. Chaikin, a cardiologist in Los Angeles.
I was having my second echocardiogram…
Unlike many cardiologist, Dr. Chaikin was actually present during the echocardiogram. He studied the monitor as it flashed pictures of my beating heart and pictures of my heart valves. I studied the monitor as well – with great purpose and intent. But, I had no idea what I was looking for.
As it turns out, eight weeks later I would find myself having double heart valve replacement surgery via the Ross Procedure. Similar to most patients, I became much, much, much, much, much more interested in heart valve anatomy once I scheduled my open heart surgery with Dr. Vaughn Starnes.
One of the questions I had was, “What does a heart valve really look like?”
I knew my bicuspid aortic valve was a congenital defect. But, I didn’t really understand the impact of having two leaflets versus three leaflets. That said, I started looking for heart valve pictures.
Guess what? I found not one heart valve picture but many heart valve pictures! Scroll below to understand exactly what a heart valve looks like!
First, you should probably see a human heart diagram to understand how the valves are located in the heart. In this diagram of the heart, you see the aortic valve, the mitral valve, the pulmonary valve and the tricuspid valve.
As you can see, most heart valves have three leaflets, while the mitral valve only has two leaflets.
Now let’s take a look at a real heart valve picture from an actual human heart. This heart valve picture shows a heart valve with severe heart valve disease. The valve cusps are rigid and deformed due to the calcification of the heart valve. So you know this is the aortic valve. This is one of the reasons I needed to have heart valve surgery. To learn more about calcified valves, click here.
Here is a heart valve picture of a heart valve suffering from mitral valve prolapse. In this heart valve diagram, you will note the blood falls back through the heart due to the improper functioning of the mitral valve. This is mitral valve regurgitation also known as a leaky heart valve. To learn more about MVP, click here.
Keep on tickin!
Adam
Written by Adam Pick
- Patient & Website Founder
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Rhonda Curtis says on December 6th, 2011 at 5:56 pm |
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I just wanted to let you know i bought your book in MAy of this year and was very thankful i did,My 33 year old son had to have a heart valve replacement at the end of June And i really needed to know what to expect,And boy you let me know,If i had not read your book i would not have been as prepared as i was,especially about being in the ICU on a vent.My son’s surgery did not go as expected tho,complication,His heart was very enlarged and had to have complete by pass,replaced 3 arteries ,had the mechanical valve put in,And then when they took him of pump, and thought all was good his heart stopped working,They put him back on and was taken to ICU where he was for 12 LONG days,Things did get better after all this and is doing well.But your book was so helpful to me as he stayed with me for 3 weeks,got angry,agitated,depredded,but i was ready for it,Watched him with pain meds,very carefully also.Thank you for your great information ,It was truly a blessing to hear it from someone young who knew what he was facing., |
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