Trusted Heart Care for Mitral Valve Disease in Central California

Your mitral valve is one of the valves in your heart that opens and shuts pushing your blood throughout your body. When disease happens to your mitral valve, it no longer shuts tightly and your blood flows both ways, causing mitral valve disease.

Mitral valve disease symptoms may go unnoticed, but there are times when it can cause shortness of breath, lightheadedness, and chest pain. Always get immediate emergency care or call 911 if you have symptoms or are experiencing chest pain and have trouble breathing.

Our Dignity Health Central California doctors will help you begin to heal from this cardiovascular condition. Find a Doctor to have your questions answered about mitral valve disease in Central California.

 

Diagnosing Mitral Valve Disease Causes at Dignity Health Central California

Your mitral valve helps to push your blood through your heart from your upper left chamber to your lower left chamber. When your mitral valve doesn’t close fully due to mitral valve disease, your blood backs up and isn’t fully pushed through the heart.

Aging or disease can cause the mitral valve to change shape or become stiff. When your mitral valve is misshapen, your heart can lose its ability to effectively pump. If left untreated, you heart can become enlarged, or your lungs can experience increased pressure.

Your Dignity Health Central California doctor will want to know if you have mitral valve leakage symptoms, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, or lightheadedness.

 

Trusted Mitral Valve Disease Treatment

There are three main types of mitral valve diseases. Your cardiologist may diagnose your condition as one of the following:

  • Mitral regurgitation, causing blood to move backward flow of blood into your left atrium
  • Mitral valve prolapse, where two tissue flaps no longer close completely
  • Mitral valve stenosis, a narrowed or stiff valve, usually as the result of damage from rheumatic fever

At Dignity Health Central California, we treat mitral valve disease with humankindness. Your doctor will put together a personalized treatment plan and determine the most effective way to restore your mitral valve so it works properly. If your mitral valve disease is more advanced, your doctor may recommend medication or surgery for mitral valve repair or replacement.

Our experts are committed to your well-being. Take our online heart health risk assessment, and talk to your doctor about the results.

Dignity Health Central California cardiologists offer specialized care for mitral valve disease in Bakersfield, Merced, San Andreas, and Stockton, CA.