What are heart valve disorders?

Our hearts have four valves: The aortic valve, the mitral valve, the pulmonary valve, and the tricuspid valve. These valves ensure that blood flows through our hearts properly and prevent back-flow when the heart’s chambers, the atria and ventricles, contract.  

Take a look at Your heart: The basics if you’d like to know more about where your heart valves are and what they do.

Most of the time, our valves function as they should, opening and closing with every heartbeat and making sure blood is moving in the right direction when our hearts pump. 

But sometimes things go wrong, and when they do, it’s usually one of the following three types of problem: Regurgitation, stenosis, or atresia.

With regurgitation, the valve doesn’t seal properly and there’s some leakage. Mitral valve prolapse is a specific kind of valve dysfunction that usually causes regurgitation.

Stenosis means that the valve is too small; the valve itself may be too narrow or the leaflets may be deformed.

Finally, in atresia, there is no valve opening at all. Atresia is usually a condition that is present at birth, and we’re not going to talk about it here. 

You may be born with a heart valve disorder (a congenital disorder), or you may develop one in later life (an acquired disorder). Acquired heart valve problems are much more common among the elderly than in younger people.