“More than 4 million people in the United States have glaucoma and about 35% have related vision loss. Both total glaucoma and vision-affecting glaucoma vary by demographic factors.
Glaucoma is called “the sneak thief of sight” since there are no symptoms and once vision is lost, it’s permanent. As much as 40% of vision can be lost without a person noticing.”
Glaucoma Research Foundation (January Is Glaucoma Awareness Month – Glaucoma Research Foundation)
Secondary Types of Glaucoma:Sometimes glaucoma is caused by another medical condition — this is called secondary glaucoma.
Treatments: Medicines, laser treatment, surgery
Neovascular glaucoma happens when the eye makes extra blood vessels that cover the part of your eye where fluid would normally drain. It’s usually caused by another medical condition, like diabetes or high blood pressure.
If you have neovascular glaucoma, you may notice:
This type of glaucoma can be hard to treat. Doctors need to treat the underlying cause (like diabetes or high blood pressure) and use glaucoma treatments to lower the eye pressure that results from it.
Treatments: Medicines, laser treatment, surgery
Pigment dispersion syndrome happens when the pigment (color) from your iris (the colored part of your eye) flakes off. The loose pigment may block fluid from draining out of your eye, which can increase your eye pressure and cause pigmentary glaucoma.
Young, white men who are near-sighted are more likely to have pigment dispersion syndrome than others. If you have this condition, you may have blurry vision or see rainbow-colored rings around lights, especially when you exercise.
Doctors can treat pigmentary glaucoma by lowering eye pressure, but there currently isn’t a way to prevent pigment from detaching from the iris.
Treatments: Medicines, laser treatment, surgery
Exfoliation glaucoma (sometimes called pseudoexfoliation) is a type of open-angle glaucoma that happens in some people with exfoliation syndrome, a condition that causes extra material to detach from parts of the eye and block fluid from draining.
Recent research shows that genetics may play a role in exfoliation glaucoma. You are at higher risk if someone else in your family has exfoliation glaucoma.
This type of glaucoma can progress faster than primary open-angle glaucoma, and often causes higher eye pressure. This means that it’s especially important for people who are at risk to get eye exams regularly.
Treatments: Medicines, surgery
Uveitic glaucoma can happen in people who have uveitis, a condition that causes inflammation (irritation and swelling) in the eye. About 2 in 10 people with uveitis will develop uveitic glaucoma.
Experts aren’t sure how uveitis causes uveitic glaucoma, but they think that it may happen because uveitis can cause inflammation and scar tissue in the middle of the eye. This may damage or block the part of the eye where fluid drains out, causing high eye pressure and leading to uveitic glaucoma.
In some cases, the medicines that treat uveitis may also cause uveitic glaucoma, or make it worse. This is because corticosteroid medicines may cause increased eye pressure as a side effect.
Treatments: The treatment for steroid-induced glaucoma involves stopping or reducing steroid use. Glaucoma medications can also help lower eye pressure. However, while the increase in eye pressure is treatable, damage to the optic nerve is irreversible.
Steroid-induced glaucoma is open-angle glaucoma caused by prolonged steroid use (longer than 3 weeks). It interferes with the outflow of aqueous humor, gradually increasing eye pressure.
Because the increase in eye pressure is slow, steroid-induced glaucoma is typically asymptomatic. Some people may notice blurry vision as an early warning sign. Eyebrow pain has also been associated with IOP. However, these symptoms only occur if IOP is very high.
Treatments: After an eye injury, your doctor may recommend glaucoma medication, steroids, and antibiotics. These can reduce intraocular pressure -IOP, prevent inflammation, and reduce the risk of infection.
Trauma-induced glaucoma is caused by an eye injury that usually involves blunt trauma or penetrating eye injury. Penetrating and blunt trauma injuries can block your eye’s drainage system, gradually increasing IOP over time.
However, the symptoms of traumatic glaucoma depend on the nature of the injury and how fast IOP increases. For example, glaucoma from a penetrating eye injury may develop after the wound heals. Oftentimes, glaucoma symptoms won’t develop for months or years later.
These self-care steps can help you detect glaucoma in its early stages, which is important in preventing vision loss or slowing its progress.
“Some types of glaucoma are caused by other medical conditions — but for other people, the doctor doesn’t find another condition that causes it. When the doctor doesn’t find another cause, it’s called primary glaucoma.
Sometimes glaucoma is caused by another medical condition — this is called secondary glaucoma.”
National Eye Institute – NIH (Types of Glaucoma | National Eye Institute)
A common eye condition in which the fluid pressure inside the eye rises to a level higher than healthy for that eye. If untreated, it may damage the optic nerve, causing the loss of vision or even blindness. The elderly, African-Americans, and people with family histories of the disease are at greatest risk.
Glaucoma is a multi-factorial, complex eye disease with specific characteristics such as optic nerve damage and visual field loss. While increased pressure inside the eye (called intraocular pressure or IOP) is usually present, even patients with normal range IOP can develop glaucoma.
There is no specific level of elevated eye pressure that definitely leads to glaucoma; conversely, there is no lower level of IOP that will absolutely eliminate a person’s risk of developing glaucoma. That is why early diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma is the key to preventing vision loss.
Eye pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Normal eye pressure ranges from 12-22 mm Hg, and eye pressure of greater than 22 mm Hg is considered higher than normal. When the IOP is higher than normal but the person does not show signs of glaucoma, this is referred to as ocular hypertension.
High eye pressure alone does not cause glaucoma. However, it is a significant risk factor. Individuals diagnosed with high eye pressure should have regular comprehensive eye examinations by an eyecare professional to check for signs of the onset of glaucoma.
A person with elevated IOP is referred to as a glaucoma suspect, because of the concern that the elevated eye pressure might lead to glaucoma. The term glaucoma suspect is also used to describe those who have other findings that could potentially, now or in the future, indicate glaucoma. For example, a suspicious optic nerve, or even a strong family history of glaucoma, could put someone in the category of a glaucoma suspect.
Vision loss from glaucoma occurs when the eye pressure is too high for the specific individual and damages the optic nerve. Any resultant damage cannot be reversed. The peripheral (side) vision is usually affected first. The changes in vision may be so gradual that they are not noticed until a lot of vision loss has already occurred.
In time, if the glaucoma is not treated, central vision will also be decreased and then lost; this is how visual impairment from glaucoma is most often noticed. The good news is that glaucoma can be managed if detected early, and with medical and/or surgical treatment, most people with glaucoma will not lose their sight.
Most common signs and symptoms of Glaucoma:
There are several forms of glaucoma; the two most common forms are primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and angle-closure glaucoma (ACG). Open-angle glaucoma is often called “the sneak thief of sight” because it has no symptoms until significant vision loss has occurred.
Open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of glaucoma, accounting for at least 90% of all glaucoma cases:
“Open-angle” means that the angle where the iris meets the cornea is as wide and open as it should be. Open-angle glaucoma is also called primary or chronic glaucoma. It is the most common type of glaucoma, affecting about three million Americans.
Symptoms of Open-Angle Glaucoma
There are typically no early warning signs or symptoms of open-angle glaucoma. It develops slowly and sometimes without noticeable sight loss for many years.
Most people who have open-angle glaucoma feel fine and do not notice a change in their vision at first because the initial loss of vision is of side or peripheral vision, and the visual acuity or sharpness of vision is maintained until late in the disease.
By the time a patient is aware of vision loss, the disease is usually quite advanced. Vision loss from glaucoma is not reversible with treatment, even with surgery.
Because open-angle glaucoma has few warning signs or symptoms before damage has occurred, it is important to see a doctor for regular eye examinations. If glaucoma is detected during an eye exam, your eye doctor can prescribe a preventative treatment to help protect your vision.
In open-angle glaucoma, the angle in your eye where the iris meets the cornea is as wide and open as it should be, but the eye’s drainage canals become clogged over time, causing an increase in internal eye pressure and subsequent damage to the optic nerve. It is the most common type of glaucoma, affecting about four million Americans, many of whom do not know they have the disease.
You are at increased risk of glaucoma if your parents or siblings have the disease, if you are African-American or Latino, and possibly if you are diabetic or have cardiovascular disease. The risk of glaucoma also increases with age.
Angle-closure glaucoma, a less common form of glaucoma:
It is also called acute glaucoma or narrow-angle glaucoma. Unlike open-angle glaucoma, angle-closure glaucoma is a result of the angle between the iris and cornea closing.
Symptoms of Angle-Closure Glaucoma
Angle-closure glaucoma is caused by blocked drainage canals in the eye, resulting in a sudden rise in intraocular pressure. This is a much more rare form of glaucoma, which develops very quickly and demands immediate medical attention
In contrast with open-angle glaucoma, symptoms of acute angle-closure glaucoma are very noticeable and damage occurs quickly. If you experience any of these symptoms, seek immediate care from an ophthalmologist.
If you are diagnosed with glaucoma, it is important to set a regular schedule of examinations with your eye doctor to monitor your condition and make sure that your prescribed treatment is effectively maintaining a safe eye pressure.
Normal-tension glaucoma is a type of open-angle glaucoma that happens in people with normal eye pressure.
You may be at higher risk for normal-tension glaucoma if you:
Experts don’t know what causes normal-tension glaucoma, but research shows that treatments that lower eye pressure can help slow the disease and stop vision loss.
Medicines, laser treatment, surgery.
Tomorrow stay tune for part II on glaucoma awareness giving other types of glaucoma, how its diagnosed & the risks.
“In most children, the cause of tetralogy of Fallot isn’t known. It’s a common type of heart defect. It may be seen more commonly in children with Down syndrome or DiGeorge syndrome. Some children can have other heart defects along with tetralogy of Fallot. Infants and young children with unrepaired tetralogy of Fallot are often blue (cyanotic-not enough oxygen getting to their tissues).”
AHA American Heart Association (www.heart.org/en/health-topics/congenital-heart-defects/about-congenital-heart-defects)
A heart defect that features four problems.
They are:
In most children, the cause of tetralogy of Fallot isn’t known. It’s a common type of heart defect. It may be seen more commonly in children with Down syndrome or DiGeorge syndrome. Some children can have other heart defects along with tetralogy of Fallot.
Normally the left side of the heart only pumps blood to the body, and the heart’s right side only pumps blood to the lungs. In a child with tetralogy of Fallot, blood can travel across the hole (VSD) from the right pumping chamber (right ventricle) to the left pumping chamber (left ventricle) and out into the body artery (aorta). Obstruction in the pulmonary valve leading from the right ventricle to the lung artery prevents the normal amount of blood from being pumped to the lungs. Sometimes the pulmonary valve is completely obstructed (pulmonary atresia).
Infants and young children with unrepaired tetralogy of Fallot are often blue (cyanotic). The reason is that some oxygen-poor blood is pumped to the body through the hole in the wall between the right and left ventricle instead of being pumped to the lungs.
Tetralogy of Fallot is treated surgically. A temporary operation may be done at first if the baby is small or if there are other problems. Complete repair comes later. Sometimes the first operation is a complete repair.
In some infants, a shunt operation may be done first to provide adequate blood flow to the lungs. This is not open-heart surgery and doesn’t fix the inside of the heart. The shunt is usually a small tube of synthetic material sewn between a body artery (or the aorta) and the pulmonary artery. The shunt is closed when a complete repair is done later.
Complete repair tends to be done early in life. The surgeon closes the ventricular septal defect with a patch and opens the right ventricular outflow tract by removing some thickened muscle below the pulmonary valve, repairing or removing the obstructed pulmonary valve and, if needed, enlarging the branch pulmonary arteries that go to each lung.
Sometimes a tube is placed between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery. This is sometimes called a Rastelli repair. It’s similar to the type of repair used for some other heart defects.
Your child may need to limit physical activity, particularly for competitive sports, if there is leftover obstruction or leak in the pulmonary valve, which is common after repair. Children with decreased heart function or rhythm disturbances may need to limit their activity more.
If the tetralogy has been repaired with surgery, and there’s no obstruction or leak in the pulmonary valve, your child may be able to participate in normal activities without much increased risk.
Your child’s pediatric cardiologist will help decide if your child needs limits on physical activity.
If your child has had tetralogy of Fallot repaired, he or she will need regular follow-up with a pediatric cardiologist. As an adult, your child will need lifelong regular follow-up with a cardiologist who’s had special training in congenital heart defects.
Some long-term problems can include leftover or worsening obstruction between the right pumping chamber and the lung arteries. Children with repaired tetralogy of Fallot have a higher risk of heart rhythm disturbances called arrhythmias. Sometimes these may cause dizziness or fainting.
Generally, the long-term outlook is good, but some children may need medicines, heart catheterization or even more surgery.
Children with tetralogy of Fallot are at increased risk for endocarditis. Some children, including those have had a valve replacement, still have a shunt or have leaks around surgical patches, and need to take antibiotics before certain dental procedures to help prevent endocarditis.
“The ductus arteriosus is a normal fetal artery connecting the aorta and the main lung artery (pulmonary artery). The ductus allows blood to detour away from the lungs before birth.
Every baby is born with a ductus arteriosus. After birth, the opening is no longer needed and it usually narrows and closes within the first few days.
Sometimes, the ductus doesn’t close after birth. Failure of the ductus to close is common in premature infants but rare in full-term babies. In most children, the cause of Patent Ductus Arteriosus-PDA isn’t known. Some children can have other heart defects along with the PDA.
Truncus arteriosus occurs when the two large arteries carrying blood away from the heart don’t form properly and one large artery is present instead. This artery (the truncus) sits over a large opening or hole in the wall between the two pumping chambers (ventricular septal defect). With only one artery, there is no specific path to the lungs for oxygen before returning to the heart to deliver oxygen to the body.”
American Heart Association-AHA (www.heart.org/en/health-topics/congenital-heart-defects/about-congenital-heart-defects)
The duct should close in the first hours after birth. If it does not, the blood begins to shunt from the aorta into the pulmonary artery and hyperperfuse the lungs. The left side of the heart will have an increase in blood return and become volume overloaded. Too much blood is going to the lungs. RA – RV – Lungs _ LA – LV – Aorta now blood shunts backwards because pressure in L side higher than R so pressure in aorta in higher it backflows (it is already oxygenated) and prevents the blood that needs to be oxyenate doesn’t get there. Dispalces blood that needs to be oxygenated. Mixed blood in oxygenation. L sided heart failure. L to R shunt. THIS IS CALLED A LEFT-TO-RIGHT SHUNT.
Simply put, this is a hole in your baby’s aorta that doesn’t close.
Aorta is the largest artery in the body, the aorta arises from the left ventricle of the heart, goes up (ascends) a little ways, bends over (arches), then goes down (descends) through the chest and through the abdomen to where ends by dividing into two arteries called the common iliac arteries that go to the legs which is called the femoral artery than.
Anatomically, the aorta is traditionally divided into the ascending aorta, the aortic arch, and the descending aorta. The descending aorta is, in turn, subdivided into the thoracic aorta (that descends within the chest) and the abdominal aorta (that descends within the belly).
The aorta gives off branches that go to the head and neck, the arms, the major organs in the chest and abdomen, and the legs. It serves to supply them all with oxygenated blood. The aorta is the central conduit from the heart to the body. A hole in the aorta causes many problems.
During pregnancy, the hole allows your baby’s blood to bypass his lungs and get oxygen from your umbilical cord. After he’s born, he starts to get oxygen from his own lungs, and the hole has to close.
If it doesn’t, it’s called patent ductus arteriosus, or PDA. Small PDAs may get better on their own. A larger one could need surgery.
I-transposition of the great arteries. This means that the right and left chambers of your baby’s heart are reversed. His blood still flows normally, but over time, his right ventricle doesn’t work as well because it must pump harder.
D-transposition of the great arteries. In this condition, the two main arteries of your baby’s heart are reversed. His blood doesn’t move through the lungs to get oxygen, and oxygen-rich blood doesn’t flow throughout his body. He will have to have surgery to repair this condition, usually within the first month of his life.
Single ventricle defects. Babies are sometimes born with a small lower chamber of the heart, or with one valve missing. Different types of single ventricle defects include:
In some cases, your doctor can spot congenital heart problems when your baby is still in the womb. But he can’t always diagnose the defect until after birth and until your baby shows signs of a problem.
Many mild congenital heart defects are diagnosed in childhood or even later because they don’t cause any obvious symptoms. Some people don’t find out they have them until they’re adults.
Whatever the type of congenital heart defect, rest assured that with advances in diagnostic tools and treatments, there’s a much greater chance of a long, normal life than ever before.
Heart transplants are recommended for children who have serious heart problems. These children are not able to live without having their heart replaced. Illnesses that affect the heart in this way include complex congenital heart disease, present at birth at times. They also include heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy).
“Every 4.5 minutes a baby is born with a condition that affects the structure or function of their body. Collectively, these conditions are referred to as birth defects. They can vary widely in how and where they affect the body and include things from cleft lip to heart problems. While medical advancements have greatly improved health and survival, many of these conditions are lifelong and require lifelong care.
Achieving the best possible health will look different for different people. No two people living with these conditions are exactly alike. Everyone’s journey is unique, shaped by their specific condition, individual strengths, and the support system in place. However, a community of support can help people with these conditions no matter what health experiences they are navigating.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC
This a problem with your heart that you’re born with.
-They’re the most common kind of birth defect.
There are at least 18 different types of congenital heart defects. Most affect the walls, valves, or blood vessels of your heart. Some are serious and may need several surgeries and treatments.
This means you’re born with a hole in the wall, or septum of the heart that separates the left and right sides of your heart. The hole lets blood from the two sides mix. This allows more oxygenated (L side of the heart) and more carbon dioxide blood (Rt side of the heart) mix together causing many problems.
An ASD is a hole in the wall between the upper chambers or the right and left atrium, of your heart.
Some ASDs close on their own. Your doctor may need to repair a medium or large ASD with open-heart surgery or another procedure.
The cardiology surgeon might seal the hole with a minimally invasive catheter procedure. The MD inserts a small tube, or catheter, in your blood vessel all the way to your heart. Then he can cover the hole with a variety of devices.
A ventricular septal defect (pronounced ven·tric·u·lar sep·tal de·fect) (VSD) is a birth defect of the heart in which there is a hole in the wall (septum) that separates the two lower chambers (ventricles) of the heart. This wall also is called the ventricular septum.
A VSD is a hole in the part of your septum that separates your heart’s lower chambers that we call ventricles. If you have a VSD, blood gets pumped back to your lungs instead of to your body.
A small VSD may also close on its own. But if yours is larger, you may need surgery to repair it. Similar to ASD surgery, just a different spot on the chambers.
This is the most serious septal defect. It’s when you have a hole in your heart that affects all four chambers.
Complete atrioventricular canal (CAVC) defect is a severe congenital heart disease in which there is a large hole in the tissue (the septum) that separates the left and right sides of the heart. The hole is in the center of the heart, where the upper chambers and lower chambers meet.
As the heart formed abnormally, the valves that separate the upper and lower chambers also developed abnormally. In a normal heart, two valves separate the upper and lower chambers of the heart: the tricuspid valve separates the right chambers and the mitral valve the left chambers. In a child with a complete atrioventricular canal defect, there is one large valve, and it may not close correctly.
As a result of the abnormal passageway between the two sides of the heart, blood from both sides mix, and too much blood circulates back to the lungs before it travels through the body. This means the heart works harder than it should have to, often becoming enlarged and damaged if the problems aren’t repaired.
A CAVC prevents oxygen-rich blood from going to the right places in your body. Your doctor can repair it with patches. But some people need more than one surgery to treat it.
Valves control the flow of blood through your heart’s ventricles and arteries. And some minor heart defects can involve the valves. Your heart has four valves aortic, pulmonic, tricuspid, and mitral valve. All four of them can develop different kinds of heart valve disease, this would include stenosis, regurgitation, and atresia.
When your cardiac valves become involved with stenosis where they narrow or stiffen, and won’t open or allow properly from a little amount to completely closed. Ranging the blood to pass easily to not at all depending on the extent of the stenosis to the valve. This makes treatment range from none and just medication if needed at all to surgery later in life or immediately born, again depending on the extent of cardiac valvular stenosis.
Aortic Valve Stenosis:
Aortic valve stenosis is most common in the world and in elderly, becoming more and more common after age 65. Several diseases can also cause it to develop in people when they reach middle age. The bicuspid aortic valve is the most common cause of aortic stenosis in patients less than the age of 70 years in developed countries. Rheumatic valve disease is the most common cause in developing countries. Although some people have aortic stenosis because of a congenital heart defect called a bicuspid aortic valve, this condition more commonly develops during aging as calcium or scarring damages the valve, that is a common cause for this condition in elderly pts since it takes time to develop calcium build up in causing the stenosis. This in turn restricts the amount of blood flowing getting through the aorta to deliver that oxygenated blood to the body. The calcium build up takes time to put an affect on the aorta with symptoms as well; so this is why this is commonly seen in elders.
Aortic stenosis is one of the most common and serious valve disease problems. Know the aorta is the main artery bringing blood from the heart to the body’s tissues/organs. Aortic stenosis is a narrowing of the aortic valve opening, and can sometimes be referred to as a failing heart valve. Aortic stenosis restricts the blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta and may also affect the pressure in the left atrium due to the blood flow regurgitating backwards from the stenosis to the L Ventricle up to the L atrium.
The condition may range from mild to severe; the longer you have it the more severe the symptoms and intensity it would have on the heart, especially left untreated.
Over time, aortic valve stenosis causes your heart’s left ventricle to pump harder to push blood through the narrowed aortic valve. The extra effort may cause the left ventricle to thicken, enlarge and weaken. If not addressed, this form of heart valve disease may lead to heart failure known as CHF. This heart failure would start on the Left Side of the Heart first=L CHF and if left untreated it would in time effect the Right Side of the Heart=R CHF as well. The symptoms of L CHF versus R CHF would be different at first and in another topic later this year (over extends this topic for today).
Pulmonary Valve Stenosis:
Pulmonary valve stenosis is a heart valve disorder that involves the pulmonary valve. This is the valve separating the right lower chamber or the right ventricle (one of the chambers in the heart) and the pulmonary artery. Pulmonary artery is one of the few arteries with high carbon dioxide and low oxygen level in the blood stream. This blood flow normally is being sent to the lungs for more oxygen where it will send the blood flow to the left side of the heart to go through the aorta and sent throughout the body to give high oxygen to all organs. This is how we survive; with out oxygen we would be going through cellular starvation and die. The pulmonary artery carries oxygen-poor blood to the lungs as its ending function. Stenosis, or narrowing in the pulmonary valve occurs when the valve cannot open wide enough to its normal capacity or in some cases completely stenosis, not able to open or close at all.
Treatment surgery at some time in the person’s lifetime. It would all depend on the severity of the stenosis condition.
Mitral Valve Stenosis:
Mitral valve stenosis — sometimes called mitral stenosis — is a narrowing of the valve between the two left heart chambers. The narrowed valve reduces or blocks blood flow into the heart’s main pumping chamber. The heart’s main pumping chamber is the lower left heart chamber, also called the left ventricle.
There are two types of mitral valve regurgitation:
Mitral valve stenosis can make you tired and short of breath. Other symptoms may include irregular heartbeats, dizziness, chest pain or coughing up blood. Some people don’t notice symptoms.
Mitral valve stenosis can be caused by a complication by a sore throat with strep throat called rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is now rare in the United States.
Treatment for mitral valve stenosis may include medication or mitral valve repair or replacement surgery. Some people only need regular health checkups. Treatment depends on the severity of the condition and whether it’s getting worse. Untreated, mitral valve stenosis can lead to serious heart complications.
Tricuspid Valve Stenosis:
Tricuspid stenosis (TS) is narrowing of the tricuspid orifice that obstructs blood flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle. Almost all cases result from rheumatic fever. Symptoms include a fluttering discomfort in the neck, fatigue, cold skin, and right upper quadrant abdominal discomfort. Jugular pulsations are prominent, and a presystolic murmur is often heard at the left sternal edge in the fourth intercostal space and is increased during inspiration. Diagnosis is by echocardiography. TS is usually benign, requiring no specific treatment, but symptomatic patients may benefit from surgery.
A damaged or diseased valve can severely compromise the ability of the heart in inefficiently which in turn does not let oxygen or carbon dioxide to be used or removed from the body in the way its suppose to be and in time effects the heart and can lead to heart failure if left untreated. Instead of the valve having stenosis it is now not closing completely when it should allowing regurgitation to occur.
Your valves don’t close tightly, the valve affected will allow regurgitation due to the valve not working efficiently with opening and closing the way it should during your heart beat (lub dub-the sound you hear of the heart when auscultating through the stethoscope, the RN or doctor uses.) Instead this lets your blood flow or leak backward r/t the valve partially open or to completely opened when the valve should be closely closed at that time and results into regurgitation. Remember the cardiac valves open and close as their function to allow blood flowing with a heart pumping to deliver oxygen to the blood from red blood cells that carry O2 and remove carbon dioxide blood through red blood cells carrying it out of the blood stream back to the lungs to get more O2 for the RBCs to carrying it to organs / tissues that need it to survive. Depending on the extent of valvular regurgitation will decide on treatment which ranges from surgery later in life or immediately when born.
It does the opposite of valve stenosis in that stenosis is a narrowing of the vessel whereas regurgitation is due to a valve remaining open partially or completely when the valve is suppose to be closing to allow blood fill up in the chamber of the heart and common one is mitral valve regurgitation but there are others like tricuspid, pulmonary and ventricular valve regurgitation.
Mitrial Valve Regurgitation:
Mitral valve regurgitation is the most common type of heart valve disease. In this condition, the valve between the left heart chambers doesn’t close fully. Blood leaks backward across the valve. If the leakage is severe, not enough blood moves through the heart or to the rest of the body. Mitral valve regurgitation can make you feel very tired or short of breath.
Other names for mitral valve regurgitation are:
Treatment of mitral valve regurgitation may include regular health checkups, medicines or surgery. You may not need treatment if the condition is mild.
Severe mitral valve regurgitation often requires a catheter procedure or heart surgery to repair or replace the mitral valve. Without proper treatment, severe mitral valve regurgitation can cause heart rhythm problems or heart failure.
Tricuspid Valve Regurgitation:
Tricuspid valve disease is a type of heart valve disease (valvular heart disease). The valve between the two right heart chambers (right atrium and right ventricle) doesn’t work properly. As a result, the heart must work harder to send blood to the lungs and the rest of the body.
Tricuspid valve disease often occurs with other heart valve problems.
Symptoms and treatments of tricuspid valve disease vary, depending on the specific valve condition. Treatment may include monitoring, medication, or valve repair or valve replacement.
The most common cause of tricuspid regurgitation is enlargement of the right ventricle. Pressure from heart conditions, such as heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and cardiomyopathy, cause the ventricle to expand. The result is a misshapen tricuspid valve that is leaky and cannot close properly.
Aortic Valve Regurgitation:
Aortic valve regurgitation — also called aortic regurgitation — is a type of heart valve disease. The valve between the lower left heart chamber and the body’s main artery doesn’t close tightly. As a result, some of the blood pumped out of the heart’s main pumping chamber, called the left ventricle, leaks backward.
The leakage may prevent the heart from doing a good enough job of pumping blood to the rest of the body. You may feel tired and short of breath.
Aortic valve regurgitation can develop suddenly or over many years. Once the condition becomes severe, surgery often is needed to repair or replace the valve.
Pulmonary Valve Regurgitation:
Pulmonary valve disease affects the valve between the heart’s lower right chamber and the artery that delivers blood to the lungs. That artery is called the pulmonary artery. The valve is called the pulmonary valve.
A diseased pulmonary valve doesn’t work properly. Pulmonary valve disease changes how blood flows from the heart to the lungs.
The pulmonary valve usually acts like a one-way door from the lower right heart chamber to the lungs. Blood flows from the chamber through the pulmonary valve. It then goes to the pulmonary artery and into the lungs. Blood picks up oxygen in the lungs to take to the body.
Many types of pulmonary valve disease are due to heart conditions present at birth. Treatment depends on the type and severity of pulmonary valve disease.
Tricuspid Atresia:
This happens when your valve isn’t formed right or has no opening to let your blood pass through. It causes more complicated heart problems. Tricuspid atresia (pronounced try-CUSP-id uh-TREE-zhuh) is a birth defect of the heart where the valve that controls blood flow from the right upper chamber of the heart to the right lower chamber of the heart doesn’t form at all. In babies with this defect, blood can’t flow correctly through the heart and to the rest of the body.
Aortic Atresia:
Aortic valvular atresia is a congenital condition in which the aortic valvular cusps are fused at birth. It frequently forms as a spectrum of malformations of the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT). The atresia can be characterized as sub-valvular, valvular, or supra-valvular, depending on the site of the anomaly. Most commonly, the defect presents as aortic stenosis, though in rare cases, it can manifest as complete atresia.
Pulmonary Atresia
Pulmonary atresia is a birth defect of the pulmonary valve, which is the valve that controls blood flow from the right ventricle (lower right chamber of the heart) to the main pulmonary artery (the blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the lungs). Pulmonary atresia is when this valve didn’t form at all, and no blood can go from the right ventricle of the heart out to the lungs. Because a baby with pulmonary atresia may need surgery or other procedures soon after birth, this birth defect is considered a critical congenital heart defect (critical CHD). Congenital means present at birth.
In a baby without a congenital heart defect, the right side of the heart pumps oxygen-poor blood from the heart to the lungs through the pulmonary artery. The blood that comes back from the lungs is oxygen-rich and can then be pumped to the rest of the body. In babies with pulmonary atresia, the pulmonary valve that usually controls the blood flowing through the pulmonary artery is not formed, so blood is unable to get directly from the right ventricle to the lungs.
In pulmonary atresia, since blood cannot directly flow from the right ventricle of the heart out to the pulmonary artery, blood must use other routes to bypass the unformed pulmonary valve. The foramen ovale, a natural opening between the right and left upper chambers of the heart during pregnancy that usually closes after the baby is born, often remains open to allow blood flow to the lungs. Additionally, doctors may give medicine to the baby to keep the baby’s patent ductus arteriosus open after the baby’s birth. The patent ductus arteriosus is the blood vessel that allows blood to move around the baby’s lungs before the baby is born and it also usually closes after birth.
This is a defect in another heart valve, the tricuspid valve-between the top and bottom of the right side of the heart, which may keep it from closing tightly. Ebstein anomaly is a rare heart problem present at birth. This means it’s a congenital heart defect. The tricuspid valve is incorrectly formed and located lower than usual in the heart. The condition may occur with a hole between the two upper chambers of the heart, called an atrial septal defect.Babies who have Ebstein’s also often have an atrial septal defect (ASD).
In people with Ebstein anomaly, the heart can grow larger. The condition can lead to heart failure.
Treatment of Ebstein anomaly depends on the symptoms. Some people without symptoms only need regular health checkups. Others may need medicines and surgery.
Keep in mind a baby can be born with more than one cardiac defect depending on the pt’s heart formation during pregnancy or at birth or in some cases symptoms arise later in life and that could be the time the patient is diagnosed with the heart condition they have. Symptoms help tell the doctor there is a problem so diagnosing gets involved until the etiology is found. If it is your heart your MD will find the defect no problem.
Part II tomorrow on other defects!