Mitral valve prolapse - is it dangerous?

There are many cardiovascular diseases. Most often we learn about them if we are concerned about something, but there are also cases when the disease does not appear externally for a long time. Symptoms appear years later, most often all of a sudden, and cause a sudden deterioration in health. Most often, inconspicuous diseases manifest themselves after considerable physical exertion, which may result in cardiac arrest.

What is mitral valve prolapse ?

The prolapse of the mitral valve is the bending of the heart valve, which manifests itself in the protrusion of the valve of one of the dampers between the chambers of the heart at the moment of its closure. Because of this defect, one of the curved flaps results in loose closing of the chambers of the heart chambers. Because of this, a small amount of blood from the ventricle returns to the atrium, and from the large blood vessels 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 valves that are located between the left ventricle and the right atrium. The valves are directly connected by the chords to the inner wall of the left ventricle.

The valves of the mitral valve close at the time of contraction of the ventricles, which prevents the outflow of blood from the left ventricle directly into the left atrium. With the relaxation of the ventricles, the chamber flaps open again, resulting in a new amount of oxygenated blood that re-fills the left ventricle. Many people who suffer from mitral valve prolapse have defects in the structure of the chambers of the heart chambers and chords. Deformation occurs due to the wrong formation of collagen, which as a result leads to an increase in the valves and chords of the heart. This disease is not harmless for everyone, because some patients feel different symptoms that prevent living calmly, and sometimes cause pain in the heart. But some live for a long time, not guessing anything.

The exact cause of the disease (prolapse of the mitral valve) is not present. Very often, the disease is inherited and occurs in women aged 19 to 40 years.

Symptoms of mitral valve prolapse

Very often patients are not aware of the existing problem, so do not pay attention to such symptoms as: frequent fatigue, severe palpitations with minor loads or severe headache. If you do not pass the examination in time and do not make an ultrasound of the heart, which will show the real state of the inner chambers of the heart, with great physical exertion the heart can not withstand and there will be an attack.

For all patients who have mitral valve prolapse, there are abnormalities in the nervous system that regulates heart rate and breathing. 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, there may be complications that will lead to a deterioration in health. Sometimes the patient has acute pain in the chest, they pass for several minutes.

If the deflection of the valves of the heart valves is significant and a gap is formed between them, this disease is called mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation. If this diagnosis was established, surgical intervention is necessary to avoid the severe consequences of the disease.

Treatment of mitral valve prolapse

For many patients, there is no need for special treatment, since the disease can disappear with time itself. All you need is to undergo a survey once a year. For those who have complications in this disease, appoint a special buta-blockers: metoprolol, atenol or propranol. If the stage of the disease is severe, then they resort to surgical intervention.