What Is Heart-Valve Disease?

Heart valve disease is a cardiac ailment that is found to occur in those valves of your heart. Heart valves consist of small flaps that open and close along with the beating and pumping of the heart. Heart valve disease develops because sometimes the heart valves cannot function properly and thus the entire cardiac function gets disrupted. This leads to a severe condition because the purified blood can now no longer spread smoothly from the upper sections of the heart such as the atria to the other lower segments like the ventricles and then to the rest portions of the body.

In the case of heart valve disorders, there is a chance of backflow of the blood that might damage the normal functioning of the heart. Moreover, heart valve disorders can also lead to a condition known as regurgitation and when the cardiac valves become narrowed, it causes a disorder known as stenosis. If anyone develops a heart valve disorder, then there are chances of getting other types of heart-related ailments such as strokes, heart attacks, cardiac arrest, heart failure, chances of blood clots or thrombosis, or any other kind of cardiovascular diseases.

The human heart consists of some sections known as 'valves.' There is a total of four valves in a human heart. They are:

• Tricuspid valve
• The mitral valve
• The aortic valve
• The pulmonary valve

Types Of Diseases In The Heart Valve

Heart valve surgery is a surgical technique used to repair or replace the heart valves. There are four types of heart valves that can be repaired with this type of surgery: Aortic valve, Mitral valve and Pulmonary Valve.

In the case of aortic and mitral valves, patients must have their diseased or damaged valve removed and replaced with a new one made from animal tissue or human tissue. People who have pulmonary valve issues can get new implants that are made up of tissue, cuffs and valves using an artificial substance called pericardium. The surgeon will choose the best type depending on the patient's situation.

Mitral valves prolapse

Mitral valves prolapse is a heart valve disorder that has been given some other medical terminologies or clinical names such as:

• Barlow's syndrome
• balloon mitral valve
• floppy valve syndrome
• click-murmur syndrome

Mitral valve prolapse occurs when the mitral valve shows abnormal functions and has an improper opening and closing system while the heart pumps and thus leading to a backflow of the blood to the atrium. When you have a Mitral valve prolapse, you may or may not feel any symptoms and so you are not likely to get treatment. But sometimes, people with Mitral valve prolapse are found to have signs such as high heart rates, breathing problems and shortness of breath, constant coughing, mild to severe pain in the chest, excessive fatigue, tiredness, and other symptoms, then it is highly advisable to visit their cardiologists or any health care expert as soon as possible. In severe cases, the doctors might recommend surgery.

Bicuspid aortic valve disease

Bicuspid aortic valve disease is a type of heart valve disorder that is a disease a child is already born with. In this case, the aortic valve is developed within the baby with only two flaps but the third one is missing since birth. This disease is not detected just after birth, but when the symptoms of the disease start appearing in the body such as breathlessness, pain in the chest, extreme tiredness, and exhaustion that can even lead to fainting. But this type of heart valve disorder can be easily treated by surgery and many people in India have successfully defeated this disease.

Valvular stenosis

Valvular stenosis is another type of heart valve disorder that occurs when a valve cannot open completely while the heart is pumping. This is a severe disorder, characterized by symptoms such as chest pain, excessive tiredness which can also cause fainting when the condition becomes severe, breathing problems or breathlessness, and many other problems. These symptoms occur because the heart cannot receive enough blood inside the valves which leads to further thickening or stiffening of the cardiac valves. Some people with mild symptoms can be easily treated by medications, while others with severe conditions might need to go for valve replacement surgery to cure valvular stenosis.

Valvular regurgitation

Valvular regurgitation, also known as "leaky valve", is a cardiac valve-related disease that causes symptoms such as cough, excessive tiredness, fatigue, breathlessness, high heart rates, or palpitations, along with swelling of the ankles and feet. This type of disease is caused when any one of the valves cannot close properly while the heart is pumping and thus leads to a backflow of blood. The treatment of this disease varies from one person to the other according to the severity of the cases, but the condition can be treated through surgery.

Symptoms Of Heart Valve Disorder

All types of heart valve disease show up common symptoms. Such symptoms are given below:

• cough
• headaches
• pulmonary edema
• mild to severe pain in the chest
• heart rates much greater than normal
• shortness of breath or breathing problems
• swelling in the limbs due to accumulation of water
• excessive tiredness, dizziness, and fatigue that can also lead to fainting and lightheadedness

How Are Heart Valve Diseases Treated?

The procedure in which a type of heart valve disease should be treated depends on the type and the severity of the disease, the condition of the heart valves, and the process the health care expert thinks best for a particular patient. The common treatment procedures for treating a heart valve disease are as follows:

• consume a healthy diet full of nutrients and avoid consuming packaged, overcooked, and junk foods.
• consult with your health care expert very often and take medicines as prescribed by your concerned physicians.
• maintain a healthy lifestyle and get rid of excessive smoking of cigarettes, drinking alcohol, or consumption of drugs.

When the above home-care remedies are not enough to treat heart valve disease, your doctor might prescribe you to consume certain types of medications in the next step. Some of those necessary medicines that help in treating heart valve disorder are as follows:

• medicines containing diuretics that will help to lower fluid retention.
• a class of drugs known as vasodilators that will ease the process of opening blood vessels for much better blood flow.
• to bring your heart rate to an optimum level, your health care expert might prescribe you some medicines containing beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers, that will also help to improve blood flow and blood supply from the heart.

But in severe cases, when medications do not work, your doctor will prescribe surgery. The types of surgery that might be done are stenosis, open-heart surgery, minimally invasive surgery, and so on.

If one wishes to have heart valve surgery in India, then he or she must know that there in India one can treat different types and conditions of heart valve disease through surgery. Some of those diseases and their related treatment techniques are as follows:

Heart Valve Surgery Cost In India

The estimated cost of Heart Valve Surgery in India is USD 4414 (INR 350000) and can be the highest cost at USD 6306 (INR 500000). The cost can vary from state to state and depends on certain factors, such as the condition of that patient's valves, the type of hospital, the experience of the surgeon, etc.

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