Can i get directions to your heart

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He had Charles' coronary artery disease. Learn more about how we treat each case of coronary artery disease uniquely. Read Charles' story Learn about our coronary artery disease expertise. Learn more about how we treat each heart failure uniquely. Some patients have no symptoms at all. In other cases, valve disease may take its toll over many years. In time, patients may develop congestive heart failure. Also, valve disease may lead to heart muscle disease cardiomyopathy , an irregular heartbeat arrhythmia , and blood clots.

Your doctor can tell if you have valve disease by listening to your heart with a stethoscope. Doctors can listen for the distinct clicking sounds or murmurs of valve disease.

Other diagnostic tests your doctor may order include. People who do not have any symptoms or only minimal symptoms may not need treatment. Others do well with medicines that ease the pain of symptoms, but medicine cannot cure valve disease.

If the condition gets worse, becomes hard to control, or the medicine no longer works, a percutaneous intervention or surgery may be needed. One step you can take is to make sure that you do not get rheumatic fever , which comes from a bacterial infection like strep throat.

Throat infections should be diagnosed early, and you should finish all of the medicine that your doctor gives you to stop the infection from coming back. If you have valve disease, you should always tell your dentist, because you may need to take antibiotic medicine before a dental procedure. Whenever you are giving a doctor your medical history, remember to tell him or her that you have valve disease. Like in dental procedures, you may need to take medicine before surgery or other procedures.

If you have valve disease and do not take antibiotic medicine before a dental or surgical procedure, you may increase your risk of developing an infection in the inner lining of your heart. This infection is called infective endocarditis. The following medicines are most often prescribed. Balloon valvuloplasty is a procedure that may be used to open narrowed tricuspid and pulmonary valves, a narrowed mitral valve, and, rarely, the aortic valve. The procedure works on valves in the same way balloon angioplasty does on the arteries.

Like angioplasty, it is performed in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. A balloon-tipped catheter is inserted into the valve. When the balloon is inflated, it pushes back any deposits along the edge of the valve, making the central area of the valve larger. The catheter and deflated balloon are then removed from the valve.

Surgery is the most invasive option for the treatment of valve disease.