What are the signs and symptoms of aortic valve disease?

Signs and symptoms of aortic valve disease may include:

• Whooshing or swishing heart sound (heart murmur)
• Chest pain or tightness.
• Dizziness.
• Fainting.
• Fatigue after activity or having less ability to be active.
• Irregular heartbeat.
• Shortness of breath, particularly during vigorous activity or when lying down.

Can aortic valve repair itself?

Unfortunately, heart valves do not tend to heal themselves. It is true that some infants born with heart murmurs will eventually grow out of the murmur as the heart matures.

What happens when the aortic valve is not working properly?

When your aortic valve won’t open normally, your heart can’t pump all the blood building up inside it. This can cause blood to back up elsewhere in the heart, and even back into the lungs. To make up for this problem, your heart muscle will try to pump harder to get that blood to the body.

What is an abnormal aortic valve?

Aortic valve stenosis causes a thickening and narrowing of the valve between the heart’s main pumping chamber (left ventricle) and the body’s main artery (aorta). The narrowing creates a smaller opening for blood to pass through, reducing or blocking blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body.

How long can you live with heart valve disease?

Around 75% of patients with unoperated aortic stenosis may die 3 years after the onset of symptoms. The long-term survival following surgical valve replacement in patients over 65 years of age is excellent and up to the first 8 years is comparable to the matched general population.

What is the life expectancy of someone with aortic stenosis?

Without treatment, a person’s life expectancy with aortic stenosis after symptoms develop is 1–3 years. Around 50–68% of symptomatic people die within 2 years. Often, they die suddenly. However, aortic valve replacement surgery significantly increases life expectancy.

What is the average age for heart valve replacement?

Fact: Valve Replacement and Heart Bypass surgery (or a combination of the two) are the most common procedures in the “elderly.” Fact: More than 30% of the patients having heart valve surgery are over 70. Fact: More than 20% of heart valve surgical patients are over 75 years of age.

Can you live a long life with a leaky heart valve?

If the condition remains untreated, you may lose your life in the next three years after encountering the symptoms. However, after undergoing surgical valve replacement, you can improve your quality of life. Patients with a replaced valve may have excellent long-term survival.

What is the life expectancy after aortic valve replacement?

Pooled data from 85 studies estimated that 89.7% of people survived for two years after surgery, 78.4% at five years, 57.0% at 10 years, 39.7% at 15 years, and 24.7% at 20 years. Subgroup analysis showed that five-year survival declined with increasing patient age (from 83.7% in under-65s to 52.5% for those over 85).

How serious is a heart valve problem?

Valve disease and health risks Many people live long and healthy lives and never realize they have a mild valve problem. However, left untreated, advanced valve disease can cause heart failure, stroke, blood clots or death due to sudden cardiac arrest.

Can exercise help heart valve disease?

Strengthening your heart muscle ups your heart’s efficiency to lighten its load, explains Tammana Singh, co-director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Sports Cardiology Center in Cleveland, OH. And, if you need valve surgery, exercise is vital in getting you back on your feet.

Does heart valve surgery shorten your life?

Patients who have undergone surgical replacement of the heart’s aortic valve have a shorter life expectancy than the normal population, the loss in life expectancy being particularly marked in the young.