When is mitral valve closed

Mitral regurgitation may begin suddenly. This often occurs after a heart attack. When the regurgitation does not go away, it becomes long-term chronic. Many other diseases or problems can weaken or damage the valve or the heart tissue around the valve. You are at risk for mitral valve regurgitation if you have:. Another important risk factor for mitral regurgitation is past use of a diet pill called "Fen-Phen" fenfluramine and phentermine or dexfenfluramine.

The drug was removed from the market by the U. Treatment will depend on what symptoms you have, what condition caused the mitral valve regurgitation, how well the heart is working, and if the heart has become enlarged. People with high blood pressure or a weakened heart muscle may be given medicines to reduce the strain on the heart and ease symptoms. Once the diagnosis is made, you should visit your provider regularly to track your symptoms and heart function.

The outcome varies. Most of the time the condition is mild, so no therapy or restriction is needed. Symptoms can most often be controlled with medicine. Also call your provider if you are being treated for this condition and develop signs of infection, which include:. People with abnormal or damaged heart valves are at risk for an infection called endocarditis.

Anything that causes bacteria to get into your bloodstream can lead to this infection. Steps to avoid this problem include:. Mitral valve regurgitation; Mitral valve insufficiency; Heart mitral regurgitation; Valvular mitral regurgitation. Carabello BA. Valvular heart disease.

Goldman-Cecil Medicine. This causes the pulmonary valve to close and the tricuspid valve to open. This lets blood flow into the right ventricle that was returned to the right atrium from the body. When the left ventricle contracts, the right ventricle also contracts. This causes the pulmonary valve to open and the tricuspid valve to close. Blood flows out from the right ventricle to the lungs before it is returned to the left atrium as fresh, oxygenated blood.

Regurgitation is a leaky valve. This means the valve doesn't fully close and the blood flows backward through the valve. This results in leakage of blood back into the atria from the ventricles in the case of the mitral and tricuspid valves.

Or it leaks back into the ventricles in the case of the aortic and pulmonary valves. This can cause the chambers to be overworked because they have repump the extra blood that was returned. Over time, this can cause structural and functional changes in the heart chambers.

These changes prevent the chambers from pumping blood normally. Stenosis is a narrowed valve. With stenosis, the valve opening is narrowed and the valve doesn't open correctly. This makes it harder for the heart to pump blood across the narrowed valve. The heart must use more force to pump blood through the stiff stenotic valve or valves. This can also cause structural and functional changes to the different chambers of the heart. These changes prevent the heart from pumping blood normally.

This means the valve opening doesn't develop normally during childhood. This prevents blood from passing from an atria to a ventricle, or from a ventricle to the pulmonary artery or aorta.

If you have a heart murmur or develop other signs or symptoms of mitral valve disease, your health care provider might recommend that you visit a doctor that specializes in heart diseases cardiologist. A typical heart has two upper and two lower chambers. The upper chambers — the right and left atria — receive incoming blood. The lower chambers — the right and left ventricles — pump blood out of your heart. The heart valves, which keep blood flowing in the right direction, are gates at the chamber openings for the tricuspid and mitral valves and exits for the pulmonary and aortic valves.

The mitral valve is one of four valves in the heart that keep blood flowing in the right direction. Each valve has flaps leaflets that open and close once during each heartbeat. If a valve doesn't open or close properly, blood flow through the heart to the body can be reduced. In mitral valve regurgitation, the flaps don't close tightly.

Blood flows backward when the valve is closed, making it harder for the heart to work properly. In mitral valve stenosis, the valve opening narrows. The heart now must work harder to force blood through the smaller valve opening. If the opening in the valve becomes small enough, it can reduce blood flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle. Mitral valve disease has many causes. Some forms of mitral valve disease can be present at birth congenital heart defect. Mitral valve disease may also develop later in life acquired.

For example, mitral valve stenosis is often caused by rheumatic fever. This fever is a complication of a strep infection that can affect the heart. When this happens, it's called rheumatic mitral valve disease. Mitral valve disease can cause many complications. Severe mitral valve regurgitation, for example, causes the heart to work harder, which can cause the left ventricle to enlarge and the heart muscle to weaken. Mitral valve disease care at Mayo Clinic.