Mitral Valve Surgery

I must admit that I don't know anything about heart diseases except that I know three people who were born with defective hearts. One was a girl in my class in elementary school. Her lips always looked blue and her complexion pale. Another was the daughter of a church friend, who was born with a hole in her heart. And the last one is a blogger friend who had a heart attack while in her early 30s as a result of her diseased heart, and later had a pacemaker fitted in her heart.

In the heart, there is a valve called the mitral valve which is the "inflow valve" for the main pumping chamber of the heart, the left ventricle. This valve can malfunction - either it doesn't close properly or it doesn't open properly. In either case, a person might consider undergoing a mitral valve surgery to correct the problem.

At the Maryland Heart Center, cardiac surgeons there will first recommend mitral valve repair which includes a minimally invasive procedure called the videoscopic minimally invasive mitral valve repair. However, not every patient is a good candidate for mitral valve repair. In such cases, mitral valve replacement would be the best option where artificial valves including mechanical (metal) valves and tissue valves are used to replace the diseased valve.

My blogger friend attributes her being alive today to her cardiac surgeon and the health care she received before and after her heart surgery. Likewise, for a person who is planning on undergoing a mitral valve surgery, he would be wise to have his surgery done at a center with a team of specialists who are leaders in the treatment of valvular heart disease, such as the Maryland Heart Center.