What are the 4 major valves in the heart?

What are heart valves?

• tricuspid valve: located between the right atrium and the right ventricle.
• pulmonary valve: located between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery.
• mitral valve: located between the left atrium and the left ventricle.
• aortic valve: located between the left ventricle and the aorta.

How serious is a sticky heart valve?

Left untreated, leaky heart valves can cause serious complications, including heart failure, atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) or pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the lung’s vessels).

How many tricuspid valves are in the heart?

Tricuspid valve repair and tricuspid valve replacement are procedures that treat diseases affecting the tricuspid valve, one of four valves that control blood flow through the heart. The tricuspid valve helps keep blood flowing in the right direction through the heart.

Which artificial heart valve is best?

In general, guidelines recommend that patients under the age of 60 would benefit from a mechanical valve, and those over 70 would benefit from a bioprosthetic valve.

What is the biggest heart valve?

The left ventricle is the largest and strongest chamber in your heart. The left ventricle’s chamber walls are only about a half-inch thick, but they have enough force to push blood through the aortic valve and into your body.

How many heart valves does a person have?

A normal heart and heart valve problems Normal heart valves and blood flow are shown in the top image. Your heart has four valves that keep blood flowing in the correct direction. These valves include the mitral valve, tricuspid valve, pulmonary valve and aortic valve.

Can you live without your tricuspid valve?

You can do without the pulmonary valve and live. In fact you can do without a tricuspid valve and live; there was a surgeon that used to do tricuspid valvectomies for endocarditis. You don’t live well; you’ll eventually have to have the tricuspid valve replaced.

How long do you live after heart valve replacement?

For aortic valve-replacement patients in general, this loss was 1.9 years. Without treatment, however, the mean survival for these patients is two to three years. The researchers found no differences in loss of life expectancy between women and men.

Which is better a mechanical valve or a tissue valve?

For people like you who fall between those ages, neither type has an absolutely clear advantage over the other. Mechanical valves are made from a special type of carbon or titanium and other sturdy materials. Their main advantage is their durability: a mechanical valve will usually last for the rest of the person’s life.

Which is the best antiplatelet therapy for mechanical heart valves?

With mechanical mitral or aortic valve at low risk of bleeding, an antiplatelet agent such as low-dose aspirin (50 to 100 mg/day) is recommended in addition to long-term VKA therapy (Grade 1B recommendation) Table 2: ACC/AHA Recommendations for Antithrombotic Therapy in Patients With Mechanical Heart Valves13

When is the best time to replace a mechanical heart valve?

Currently, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommend mechanical valves for people under age 50 and biologic (tissue) valves for those over 70. For people like you who fall between those ages, neither type has an absolutely clear advantage over the other.

When to have an aortic valve replacement mechanical or tissue?

For an aortic valve replacement, experts usually recommend mechanical valves for people under age 50 and tissue valves for those over age 70. For people between…