What Is Heart Valve Disease? Symptoms and Treatment Options

Your heart works hard every day to keep blood flowing throughout your body, but when one or more of its four valves don’t function properly, it can interfere with normal blood circulation. Known as heart valve disease, this condition can sometimes develop without noticeable symptoms and may lead to serious complications, especially if left untreated. Understanding the early warning signs, appropriate diagnostic tests and effective treatment options can help you protect your cardiovascular health.

In this article, we’ll explain heart valve disease, address potential warning signs to watch for and explore how the condition is diagnosed and treated. 

At Raleigh Medical Group, we offer in-office preliminary diagnostic and screening tests for heart conditions and coordinate referrals to specialized cardiologists when complex care is needed. If you have concerns about your heart health, we encourage you to contact us for an appointment. 

What is Heart Valve Disease?

Heart valve disease is a condition in which one or more of the heart’s four valves don’t open or close properly, interfering with normal blood flow through the heart and the rest of the body. 

Each of the four valves has a specific function:

• The aortic valve controls blood flow from the left ventricle into the aorta and throughout the rest of the body.
• The mitral valve regulates blood flow between the left atrium and the left ventricle. 
• The tricuspid valve controls blood flow between the right atrium and right ventricle.
• The pulmonary valve controls blood flow from the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery, which carries blood toward the lungs. 

The three main types of heart valve problems include:

• Stenosis, when a valve becomes narrowed or stiff, restricting blood flow
• Regurgitation, when a valve doesn’t close completely, allowing blood to leak backward
• Prolapse, when valve leaflets bulge backward, which can sometimes prevent the valve from closing correctly 

Common risk factors for heart valve disease include: 

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol levels
• Older age
• Diabetes 
• Smoking
• Family history of cardiovascular disease.

While anyone can develop heart valve disease, it’s especially important to pay attention to your heart health if you have any of the risk factors above and discuss concerns with your doctor.   

What Are the Early Signs of Heart Valve Disease?

Common early warning signs of heart valve disease may include:

• Shortness of breath, even while lying down or resting in some cases
• Unusual fatigue
• Chest pain or discomfort
• Heart palpitations 
• Dizziness, lightheadedness, or in more serious cases, fainting 
• Swelling (edema) in the legs, ankles, feet or abdomen

For some people, heart valve disease doesn’t cause any noticeable symptoms in its early stages or symptoms may develop slowly enough that they’re mistaken for normal aging.

This is why routine medical exams and follow-up care are important, especially if you have any of the risk factors previously mentioned.  

These symptoms may also occur with other cardiovascular or medical conditions and don’t necessarily indicate that you have heart valve disease.

That said, if your symptoms are persistent or worsening, we encourage you to schedule an appointment with us so we can identify potential heart valve problems early to reduce the risk of more serious complications. 

How is Heart Valve Disease Diagnosed?

Diagnosing heart valve disease usually begins with a physical exam and a review of your symptoms, medical history and current health status, including your cardiovascular risk factors.

The primary diagnostic tool is an echocardiogram, or heart ultrasound. This essential test allows us to examine the heart’s structure, assess how the valves open and close and evaluate blood flow through the heart’s chambers. 

In some cases, other tests may be recommended, including:

• Electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG)
• Chest X-ray 
• Cardiac MRI
• Exercise stress test

These additional tests can help us determine how serious your condition is so we can recommend an appropriate treatment plan.

Can Heart Valve Disease Be Treated?

Several treatment options for heart valve disease are available. Your recommended treatment plan will depend on:

• Which heart valve is affected
• How severe the damage is
• Your symptoms 
• Your medical history, age and overall health

Primary treatment approaches include:

• Monitoring and lifestyle changes 
  • Regular medical checkups and imaging tests to monitor changes.
  • Adopting heart-healthy habits such as getting regular exercise, eating a nutritious diet, maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding tobacco.

• Medications
  • Prescriptions to control blood pressure, manage abnormal heart rhythms, prevent blood clots and treat heart failure.
  • While these medications cannot repair damaged heart valves, they can help manage related symptoms and conditions.

• Heart valve repair
  • Preserving and repairing your existing valve tissue, when possible, to restore normal function.
  • This may involve repairing damaged tissue or widening a narrowed valve opening. 

• Heart valve replacement
  • If your valves are too damaged to be repaired, they may need to be replaced with mechanical or biological valves. 

• Minimally invasive procedures 
  • Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a procedure that allows doctors to replace a damaged aortic valve using a catheter. 

While heart valve disease is not always preventable, early detection, treatment and consistent follow-up care can help protect your heart health and lower the risk of complications. 

Raleigh Medical Group Offers Personalized Care to Help Protect Your Heart Health 

Heart valve disease can often develop silently without obvious warning signs. Understanding your personal risk factors, together with early detection, routine checkups and appropriate treatment are essential for protecting your cardiovascular health and preventing complications. 

At Raleigh Medical Group, our experienced internal medicine physicians provide personalized care to help you manage risk factors and monitor your health. We also offer in-office diagnostic and screening tests for heart conditions and coordinate referrals to specialized cardiologists when advanced heart care is needed.

If you have an elevated risk of heart disease or you’re experiencing concerning symptoms, we encourage you to contact us for an appointment.