There are many cardiovascular diseases. Most often we learn about them if something bothers us, but there are also cases where the disease does not manifest itself externally for a long time. Symptoms appear years later, most often suddenly, and become the cause of an unexpected deterioration in health. Most often, invisible diseases manifest themselves after significant physical exertion, which can result in cardiac arrest.
What is mitral valve prolapse ?
Mitral valve prolapse is the deflection of the heart valve, which manifests itself in the protrusion of the sash of one of the flaps between the chambers of the heart at the time of its closure. Due to this defect, one of the arched flaps leads to a loose closure of the shutters of the heart chambers. As a result, a small amount of blood from the ventricle returns to the atrium, and from large vessels, blood returns to the ventricles.
Mitral valve prolapse is characteristic for 8% of all inhabitants of the planet. The basis of the mitral valve consists of two thin cusps, which are located between the left ventricle and the right atrium. The valves are directly connected by chords to the inner wall of the left ventricle.
The mitral valve valves close at the time of ventricular contraction, which prevents the outflow of blood from the left ventricle directly into the left atrium. When the ventricles relax, the chamber flaps open again, as a result of which a new amount of oxygenated blood passes, which again fills the left ventricle. Many people with mitral valve prolapse have defects in the structure of the heart chamber dampers and chords. Deformation occurs due to improper collagen formation, which as a result leads to an increase in the valves and chords of the heart. This disease is not harmless to everyone, as some patients experience various symptoms that prevent them from living peacefully and sometimes cause pain in the heart. But some live for a long time without realizing anything.
The exact cause of the disease (mitral valve prolapse) is not. Very often, the disease is inherited and occurs in women aged 19 to 40 years.
Characteristic symptoms of mitral valve prolapse
Very often, patients are not aware of the existing problem, therefore they do not pay attention to symptoms such as: frequent fatigue, palpitations with minor exertion or severe headache. If you fail to undergo an examination in time and do not do an ultrasound of the heart, which will show the real state of the inner chambers of the heart, with a lot of physical exertion, the heart may not withstand and an attack will occur.
All patients who have mitral valve prolapse are characterized by disorders in the nervous system that regulates heart rate and respiration. As a result, an insufficient amount of oxygen enters the bloodstream, and it, in turn, enters the muscles, which leads to frequent fatigue.
Quite often, when running, the patient has a fast or irregular heartbeat, most often they are not life threatening, but if the physical activity is constant, then there may be complications that will lead to poor health. Sometimes the patient has acute pain in the chest, they disappear within a few minutes.
If the deflection of the valves of the heart valves is significant and a gap is formed between them, then this disease is called mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation. If this diagnosis was established, then surgical intervention is necessary to avoid the serious consequences of the disease.
Mitral valve prolapse treatment
For many patients, there is no need for special treatment, since the disease itself can disappear over the years. All that is needed is an examination once a year. For those who have complications with this disease, special buta-blockers are prescribed: metoprolol, atenol or propranol. If the stage of the disease is severe, then resort to surgical intervention.