What is mitral regurgitation?
Four heart valves control how blood flows in and out of your heart. The valves are like one-way doors that keep blood flowing in the right direction.
Your mitral valve separates your left atrium and left ventricle. This valve opens to let blood from your lungs out of your left atrium and into the left ventricle. The valve closes to keep blood from rushing back into your left atrium.
Mitral regurgitation is when the mitral valve doesn't close all the way. When your left ventricle contracts to pump blood to your body, some of the blood instead leaks backward into the atrium.
Mitral regurgitation is usually caused by genetic conditions (passed down in your family) or by a heart attack Heart Attack A heart attack is when blood flow to part of your heart is suddenly blocked and some of your heart muscle dies. Go to an emergency department and chew on an aspirin tablet if you think you're... read more
The more blood that leaks backward, the harder your heart has to work to pump out enough blood
Eventually, your heart has to pump so hard to compensate for the leak that you develop heart failure Heart Failure Your heart pumps blood to carry oxygen and nutrients to the rest of your body. Heart failure is when your heart doesn’t pump blood as well as it should. It doesn’t mean your heart has stopped... read more
Doctors can hear a heart murmur through a stethoscope and do echocardiography Echocardiography and Other Ultrasound Procedures Echocardiography is also sometimes called an echocardiogram or an echo. An echo is an ultrasound of your heart. Sound waves bounce off your heart to create a moving image of your heart. This... read more
to diagnose mitral regurgitationMild regurgitation may not cause any symptoms or need treatment
Severe regurgitation can cause symptoms, such as shortness of breath, or an abnormal heart rhythm, such as atrial fibrillation Atrial Fibrillation and Atrial Flutter Your heart is a muscle that pumps blood through your body. Your heart rate is how fast your heart beats. Your heart should always have a regular, rhythmic beat, like the ticking of a clock.... read more
For severe regurgitation, your mitral valve will need to be repaired or replaced
Atrial fibrillation can cause problems such as blood clots Excessive Blood Clotting A blood clot is a clump of material your blood makes to plug up the bleeding from a cut. Blood clots are made of special clotting substances and platelets (very small blood cells). After a cut... read more or stroke Stroke A stroke is a sudden brain problem that happens when a blood vessel in your brain either gets blocked or breaks open and bleeds. Part of your brain stops getting blood. Brain tissue that doesn't... read more .
(See also Overview of Heart Valve Disorders Overview of Heart Valve Disorders Your heart is a muscle that pumps blood through your body. Your heart has four chambers. The atria are the two upper chambers in your heart—the right atrium and the left atrium. The ventricles... read more .)
What are the causes of mitral regurgitation?
Mitral regurgitation can develop suddenly or gradually.
Causes of sudden mitral regurgitation include:
Causes of gradual mitral regurgitation include:
Damage to the mitral valve from mitral valve prolapse Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP) Four heart valves control how blood flows in and out of your heart. The valves are like one-way doors that keep blood flowing in the right direction. Your mitral valve separates your left atrium... read more or untreated rheumatic fever Rheumatic Fever Rheumatic fever is inflammation of the joints, heart, skin, and nervous system, resulting from a complication of untreated streptococcal infection of the throat. This condition is a reaction... read more
Damage to the left ventricle (such as from coronary artery disease Overview of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) The heart is a muscle that pumps blood. Like all muscles, the heart needs a steady supply of blood to work. Blood that pumps through the heart doesn't feed the heart muscle. Instead the heart... read more
)
What are the symptoms of mitral regurgitation?
You may not have symptoms from mild mitral regurgitation.
Severe mitral regurgitation can cause heart failure Heart Failure Your heart pumps blood to carry oxygen and nutrients to the rest of your body. Heart failure is when your heart doesn’t pump blood as well as it should. It doesn’t mean your heart has stopped... read more , which may cause you to:
Get tired easily
Feel short of breath
Have swelling in your legs
Atrial fibrillation may cause:
Palpitations (feeling your heart pounding, fluttering, racing, or skipping beats)
Shortness of breath
How can doctors tell if I have mitral regurgitation?
Doctors suspect mitral regurgitation by listening to your heart with a stethoscope. Doctors use echocardiography Echocardiography and Other Ultrasound Procedures Echocardiography is also sometimes called an echocardiogram or an echo. An echo is an ultrasound of your heart. Sound waves bounce off your heart to create a moving image of your heart. This... read more (an ultrasound of your heart) to find out how bad the leak is.
Doctors may also do tests to see the left atrium and ventricle, such as:
Electrocardiography (ECG/EKG Electrocardiography Electrocardiography is a test that measures your heart’s electrical activity. It's quick, painless, and harmless. The results of that test are shown in an electrocardiogram. It looks like a... read more
) (a quick, painless test that measures your heart’s electrical currents )
How do doctors treat mitral regurgitation?
Mild mitral regurgitation may not need treatment. Doctors may check on your heart occasionally with echocardiography Echocardiography and Other Ultrasound Procedures Echocardiography is also sometimes called an echocardiogram or an echo. An echo is an ultrasound of your heart. Sound waves bounce off your heart to create a moving image of your heart. This... read more .
Doctors will monitor your symptoms and repeat the echocardiography to decide when to do surgery. Your mitral valve should be surgically repaired or replaced before your heart muscle is damaged.
If your valve is seriously damaged, doctors can do surgery to replace the valve with:
A plastic, mechanical valve
Sometimes doctors replace heart valves with a valve from a pig or cow heart. However, doctors prefer to use a mechanical valve when replacing the mitral valve. If you get a mechanical valve, you'll need to take blood-thinning medicine for the rest of your life, but the valve may last several decades.
People with damaged or replaced valves sometimes need antibiotics to prevent heart valve infection, such as when they:
Get dental work
Have certain medical procedures
