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Mitral Valve Stenosis

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What is Mitral Valve Stenosis?

The mitral valve allows blood to enter into the left ventricle of the heart (the main pumping chamber) from the left atrium (the collecting chamber for blood coming from the lungs). Stenosis is a condition where the valve becomes stiff and cannot open completely, preventing normal blood flow across the valve.

Mitral valve stenosis is caused either by thickening related to previous rheumatic fever, or age-related "wear and tear." It can be closely associated with atrial fibrillation, especially as the stiffness of the valve progresses.

Initially, patients have no symptoms. As the valve narrows more, the most common symptoms are:

Shortness of breath during exertion or when lying down
Leg swelling
Chest pain

Diagnosing Mitral Valve Stenosis

Diagnostic tests for this condition include:

Listening with a stethoscope
Echocardiogram (cardiac ultrasound)

Treatments for Mitral Valve Stenosis

Treatment includes medications to treat symptoms (diuretics) and control heart rate (beta blockers). If stenosis is severe, we can use a “balloon” device to stretch out the valve and improve the opening. Other times, surgical valve replacement is required.

Procedures may include:

Transcatheter Edge to Edge Repair (TEER)
Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair (TMVR)

University of Rochester Medicine Advanced Heart Valve Center is completely focused on treating heart valve problems. Here, we offer diagnosis and the latest treatment options for patients who have valve disease.

What Sets Us Apart?

The Cardiac Care Valve Center offers the full range of treatments for heart valve disease. Our team of surgeons has extensive experience with minimally invasive procedures, which can be effective for many valve repair surgery patients—even the most challenging cases. This means a shorter recovery time, reduced chance of infection, and less discomfort.

URochester Medicine offers the Structural Heart Program, completely focused on treating structural and heart valve disease. We offer a multidisciplinary team of providers who specializes in percutaneous and surgical treatments. We can also provide every other specialist you may need, including echo-cardiologists, radiologists, and specialists in heart failure, oncology, pulmonology and our congenital cardiac care.

Our seasoned experts take a multidisciplinary approach, providing the most advanced valve repair surgeries and treatments available today. We regularly handle the most complex cases in Upstate New York.