Have You Been Diagnosed With Narrowing of Your Aortic Valve (Aortic Valve Stenosis)?

Aortic stenosis occurs when your aortic valve, the valve between the aorta and the left ventricle, becomes abnormally narrow. The aorta is the artery through which the left ventricle, one of the two lower heart chambers, pumps blood into the body. Thus, the narrowing decreases the quantity of blood that the heart can pump throughout the body.

In an effort to squeeze more blood through the valve, the left ventricle then develops a thickened muscular wall. This thicker, harder working tissue requires more and more blood to supply it with the oxygen and nutrients it needs to work so hard.

At first, aortic stenosis may produce no symptoms at all. As the condition worsens, you will begin to feel breathless after physical activity. You may then develop angina, dizzy spells, or even faintness whenever you exert yourself. Eventually your symptoms may be those of left-sided heart failure.

Rheumatic fever, which is associated with other valve disorders, is often the cause of aortic stenosis. The aortic valve is affected in about 40 per cent of people who get heart valve trouble after an attack of rheumatic fever. If you have this disorder alone, without first having rheumatic fever and without any other valve defects, you probably were born with it. Another cause is degeneration of this valve as a result of the aging process.

A shortage of blood throughout your body means a shortage of blood, and therefore a shortage of oxygen, in the heart itself. This can cause ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest

If you have any of the symptoms of aortic stenosis, do not delay in consulting your physician, who will examine you, listen to your heart, and probably order diagnostic tests without delay. A chest X-ray should show whether or not the heart is enlarged. An electrocardiogram (ECG) can help your physician to determine how much your heart is enlarged, if, indeed, it is. The diagnosis can then be confirmed or perhaps disproved, with an echocardiogram, cardiac catheterization, and coronary arteriography.

The treatment for severe aortic stenosis is surgery, and the most common form of surgery is valve replacement. Decisions that must be made, the possible risks of the operation, and prospects for recovery are similar for all heart valve disorders. Your physician should be able to help clarify these matters for you.

Another form of treatment is widening of the valve using cardiac catheterization a treatment modality known as balloon valvotomy or valvuloplasty.

Learn more about heart disease symptoms. Don’t die of a heart attack. Take an Action Now.

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