Mitral valve regurgitation and heart failure
Over time, heart failure may cause your heart to enlarge. An enlarging heart muscle may stretch the area around the mitral valve and prevent it from closing all the way, increasing how much the valve leaks.
Mitral valve regurgitation stems from a problem with the mitral valve, which regulates the flow of blood between the upper and lower chambers of the left side of your heart (the left atrium and left ventricle). Mitral valve regurgitation occurs when the mitral valve begins to leak, causing some blood to flow backwards into the left atrium.
A leaky valve makes your heart's pumping much less efficient. Some of the blood is pumped through the valve once and then leaks back to its original location and must be pumped again. Your heart must pump much more blood than it normally does to make up for the leaky valve; this is known as a volume overload of the left ventricle. Eventually, this extra work may make heart failure worse.
| Author: | Robin Parks, MS | Last Updated: September 1, 2006 |
| Medical Review: | Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine Stephen Fort, MD, MRCP, FRCPC - Interventional Cardiology | |
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