Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a heart condition also referred to as Barlow’s syndrome, floppy valve syndrome, or click-murmur syndrome. In many cases, patients with mitral valve prolapse have no difficulties because of it. In other cases, treatment may be necessary to prevent symptoms and complications. Here’s a look at the potential symptoms, causes, complications, and treatment of mitral valve prolapse.
What is Mitral Valve Prolapse?
The heart consists of four separate chambers: a left and right atrium on the top, and a left and right ventricle beneath. Once the body has depleted blood of oxygen, it goes into the right atrium, down to the right ventricle, to the lungs to pick up oxygen and then to the left atrium and left ventricle. The mitral valve is in charge of the bleed passage between the left heart chambers, letting blood pass from the atrium to the ventricle. Each pump of the heart flips the valve open, passing blood through, and then it flaps shut again between pumps to keep blood from going the other direction.
Many muscles and organs in the body can prolapse -- it simply means the integrity of the structure is compromised sufficiently to allow it to bulge abnormally. In the case of the mitral valve, rather than forming a nice, tight seal, the valve prolapses (bulges) back into the left atrium, potentially allowing blood to leak back into the atrium.
Symptoms and Complications
Again, mitral valve prolapse can be present for years with absolutely no symptomatic difficulties and no backward flowing blood; in some cases even the backflow can be mild enough as to be insignificant. Unfortunately, however, this isn’t always the case.
If you do have a case of problematic MVP, you may notice arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat) or heart palpitations (a sensation of fluttering, skipping beats, or beating especially hard or fast). MVP can also make it difficult to breathe, cause coughing and chest pain, incite feelings of fatigue or anxiety, and cause headaches and dizziness.
In most cases, the symptoms actually arise because of mitral valve regurgitation, which means that blood actually has begun to leak back into the atrium. Additionally, this backflow can stress out the heart muscles, causing arrhythmias, and increases the risk of endocarditis, an infection of the heart valves. Generally, symptoms become worse over time.
Causes
We know that mitral valve prolapse causes mitral valve regurgitation -- but what causes mitral valve prolapse to occur in the first place? Experts are not quite sure. In many cases, it seems to be a congenital abnormality, meaning the patient was born with it. According to the National Institute of Health, genetics appear to play a large role, as does the presence of connective tissue disorders, such as Marfan Syndrome. Abnormalities of the mitral valve, such as being larger or stretchier than normal, may make prolapsing more likely.
Treatments
MVP is more likely to become problematic for patients with high blood pressure or male patients. When symptoms begin to require treatment, there are a few options depending upon your situation. In some cases, it may only be necessary to manage symptoms, while in other cases the mitral valve may need to be surgically corrected.
Medications such as beta blockers are often used to manage arrhythmias and chest pain; vasodilators can expand the blood vessels to make blood flow better and lighten the heart’s load. Other prescriptions may be needed to prevent clotting, strengthen the heartbeat, or reduce extra fluid and sodium.
In more extreme conditions, surgery may be necessary to repair the valve. When this isn’t possible, the valve can be replaced with a prosthetic valve. Transcatheter valve therapy is an alternative when patients are unable to undergo open heart surgery; instead of opening up the entire chest, the repair is made by inserting a catheter through one of the larger vessels.
