Mitral Valve Prolapse
If you are diagnosed with heart disease we want you to know that there is hope, because every day in operating rooms across the country, doctors miraculously bring dying hearts back to life using surgical procedures that were once unthinkable - Barbara Walters
image by: Chic Bee
HWN Suggests
A diagnosis of discovery: the challenges of living with mitral valve prolapse (MVP)
I’ve got an admission to make. I have a condition called mitral valve prolapse, or MVP for short. This basically means my mitral valve - located between the left atrium and left ventricle of my heart - is leaky (prolapsing), and that the blood flows the wrong way.
Now that’s sorted, I have a confession: despite being diagnosed nearly two years ago, I still know next to nothing about a condition that affects many areas of my life.
Chances are you’ve never heard of MVP. Before my diagnosis, neither had I. As such, this little ‘heart-to-heart’ will document my ongoing journey of discovery and hopefully raise awareness of this widely misunderstood and largely unknown condition.
Strange…
Featured
Follow Monica's Lead: Make a Heart-Healthy 'Self-Check'
R&B singer Monica was just 18 years old and already a star. The diagnosis: a heart condition called mitral valve prolapse. In simple terms, the flap between the upper and lower chambers of her heart wasn't closing properly.
Articles of Interest
Elizabeth Taylor Keeps On Ticking
MitraClip belongs to a new category of minimally invasive procedures that use catheters to replace and repair heart valves. No more cracking the chest, especially for pretty women. Although commonly used in Europe it is still in clinical trials in the United States
Epidemiology and Pathophysiology of Mitral Valve Prolapse: New Insights into Disease Progression, Genetics, and Molecular Basis
Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common disorder afflicting 2- 3% of the general population. It is characterized by typical fibromyxomatous changes in the mitral leaflet tissue with superior displacement of one or both leaflets into the left atrium.
Mitral Valve Prolapse - What Causes It? Can Diet Changes Help?
Mitral valve prolapse is a common condition occurring in approximately 4 - 18% of the population. It is defined as an abnormality of the mitral valves of the heart in which one or both mitral valve flaps close incompletely, often producing either a click or murmur. Conditions linked to MVP include magnesium deficiencies, increased catecholamine productions, anxiety, depression, migraines, allergies and asthma.
Mitral Valve Repair-One Person's Story
I started writing this blog on day-4 post-surgery—September 24, 2017 to record this experience in as real time as possible. I hope that my experience will help others navigate this process and ease both the decision-making and the healing.
Researchers solidify link between mitral valve prolapse, sudden cardiac death
"MVP is commonly observed as a benign finding,” lead researcher Rajiv Mahajan, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the Universities of Adelaide, Melbourne, New South Wales and Queensland, wrote. “However, the literature suggests that it may be associated with sudden cardiac death.”
Resources
Living with MVP
A story from a Mitral Valve Prolapse Patient.
MitraClip
The MitraClip system is a catheter-based therapy intended to reduce mitral regurgitation (MR). This less-invasive mitral valve repair therapy is adapted from the open surgical double-orifice technique, and increases the options for select MR patients, may reduce the symptoms of heart failure (HF), and may improve quality of life.
Cleveland Clinic
Mitral valve prolapse is a type of myxomatous valve disease. The tissue of the mitral valve leaflets and chordae are abnormally stretchy, so that as the heart beats, the mitral valve bows or flops back into the left atrium.
Cove Point Foundation
This is a fairly common heart defect, probably genetic in origin, that affects about 2% of the population. It occurs in approximately twice as many girls as boys.
eMedicineHealth
Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is also called click-murmur syndrome, floppy mitral valve syndrome, and Barlow syndrome after the doctor who first described MVP. The mitral valve is one of 4 valves in the heart. It opens and closes to control blood flow between the heart's left atrium and the left ventricle. The mitral valve has 2 flaps, or "leaflets."
Harvard Health
Most people with mitral valve prolapse don't know it—they feel fine and it doesn't cause any symptoms. It is usually discovered when a doctor hears a certain clicking sound, with or without a heart murmur, when listening to the heart with a stethoscope during a routine physical examination. Mitral valve prolapse was once blamed for symptoms such as chest pains, palpitations, and lightheadedness. Individuals with mitral valve prolapse can have those symptoms, but mitral valve prolapse is usually not the cause.
HeartPoint
The "mitral valve" is a structure in the heart which is between the upper chamber on the left side of the heart (the "left atrium") and the lower chamber on the left (the "left ventricle"). The mitral valve opens when the lower chamber is "resting", allowing blood to flow in, and then closes as the left ventricle contracts, preventing blood from going backwards.
KidsHealth
Many kids and grown-ups have something called mitral valve prolapse. For most people, it's a heart problem that isn't much to worry about.
Mayo Clinic
Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common heart disorder. It occurs when the valve between your heart's left upper chamber (left atrium) and the left lower chamber (left ventricle) doesn't close properly. When the left ventricle contracts, the valve's leaflets bulge (prolapse) upward or back into the atrium. Mitral valve prolapse sometimes leads to blood leaking backward into the left atrium, a condition called mitral valve regurgitation.
MedicineNet
Mitral valve prolapse (also known as "click murmur syndrome" and "Barlow's syndrome") is the most common heart valve abnormality, affecting five to ten percent of the world population. A normal mitral valve consists of two thin leaflets, located between the left atrium and the left ventricle of the heart.
MedlinePlus
Mitral valve prolapse is a heart problem in which the valve that separates the left upper and lower chambers of the heart does not open and close properly.
Texas Heart Institute
Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is among the most common heart conditions, but it remains something of a puzzle. Although MVP affects about 2% of the population, the cause is unknown. MVP often occurs in people who have no other heart problems, and the condition may be inherited.
Women's Heart Foundation
Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the most common condition of the heart valves. Some studies show it affects 6% of all women.
