Mitral valve prolapse is one of the most frequent abnormalities of the heart valve, which is also known under the name of click-murmur syndrome. It is very often congenital, and in patients with this heart condition, the problem is caused by excessive build up of collagen, since it results in thickening, enlargement and redundancy of the mitral apparatus. When it comes to the symptoms of mitral valve prolapse, they do not necessarily have to be present in every case, because some patients do not feel anything unusual, while others have typical symptoms such as irregular heartbeat, chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, and migraines, which are all indication of this condition. However, it is also important to mention that none of these symptoms has to be serious and none of them has to require medical attention unless persistent and hard to tolerate.
As for the complications, since this condition is more typical of middle-aged people and in older patients, there are various complications which are possible. Depending on the seriousness of the condition, different options for treatment are available, starting from simple monitoring and regular check ups, to medications which cannot cure this condition but can regulate heart rhythm, for example. Mitral valve regurgitation is one of the available treatments, and it is probably the most common one, especially in people who have problems with weight and those with high blood pressure.
In very severe cases, surgery is absolutely necessary, and the only possible solution. It will consist of either repairing the damaged valve, or of its replacement, because this complication can be life-threatening. Today, minimally invasive techniques are used in this surgery, and they are very successfully performed. Arrhythmia or problems with irregular heart rhythm is also one of the possible complications, but this one is not life-threatening in the majority of the cases. The patients who already have a serious case of mitral insufficiency are more prone to this complication. Endocarditis is another name for the infection of heart valve, which is also a possible complication of this condition. Before, the way in which this complication was considered to be prevented was the use of antibiotics, but today it is no longer recommended. Mitral valve stenosis or narrowing of mitral valve is also a possible complication that can be solved by the replacement of the mitral valve in surgery. The valves that are used for the replacement are either mechanical, made of synthetic material, or biological, which means that they are made of animal tissue.
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