Valvular Heart Diseases

INIMED 360° characteristics
  • The interventional cardiologists treat most of them by plasty operations and not by aorta and mitral valve replacement (aortic valve replacement, mitral valve plastic surgery).

The heart has 4 valve (aortic, mitral, pulmonary and tricuspid), which function like a vent: they open in order to allow the blood flow in one direction and then they close in order to stop the blood flow reflux. There are two types of valvular disorder, according to their production mechanism:

– Valvular stenosis – which consists of the reduction of the valve opening and the narrowness of the orifice the blood passes through (for instance, aortic stenosis);
– Valvular insufficiency – results from the incomplete sealing of the valve, so that the backward flow of blood or regurgitation occurs (for instance, aortic insufficiency).
Valvulopatii cardiace
Treatament

The surgical treatment is the only one that can restore the normal hemodynamic conditions of the heart and can avoid the development of the heart failure.
The surgical correction may be performed through two methods:

  • Interventions regarding the reconstruction of the native valve – the plastic surgery of aortic, mitral, pulmonary and tricuspid valve.
  • Interventions concerning the valvular replacement  by open heart surgery or by percutaneous minimally invasive surgery.
Natural evolution without surgical treatment

By reaching a certain degree of severity, the valvular lesions overstress the heart, and without a proper treatment, they lead to the installation of the heart failure syndrome and eventually to death.
Life expectancy is of 1-2 years for the patients with heart failure phenomena, of 2-3 years for the ones with syncopes and of 4-5 years for the patients suffering of angina pectoris.

The results achieved after surgical intervention

The team of Inimed Clinic, made up of Romanian and French cardiovascular surgeons has a 98% success rate in the surgical treatment of the valvular heart diseases in the past 5 years.