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Mitral Valve Disease Symptoms, What Are They? - Dr. Aklog (VIDEO)

By Dr. Lishan Aklog Expert February 11, 2009 - 10:50am
 
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Listen as Dr. Aklog describes mitral valve disease/MVD symptoms.

More Videos from Dr. Lishan Aklog 33 videos in this series

Dr. Aklog:

As with most valve disease, the most common symptom of mitral valve disease is shortness of breath. Again, this shortness of breath can be with exertion, with mild exertion, with moderate exertion, or even at rest, depending on the severity of the valve disease as well as how the heart function is.

That’s the most common symptom. Other less common symptoms include something called "palpitations" where the patient feels their heart beating either unusually fast or just an abnormal sensation of their heart beating. That’s caused from an arrhythmia, which is secondary to the mitral valve disease. Those are really the most common, but by far the most common symptom is shortness of breath.

I should note, however, that many patients will have no symptoms, and in fact, it’s extremely important to point out because we now know that even in patients who don’t have symptoms, if the valve was leaking severely and the medical team, the surgical team, can offer the patient a 90% plus chance of repair that the valve should be repaired, even if the patient has no symptom and the heart function is normal. So it’s important for patients to understand that even if they don’t have symptoms that they may benefit from valve repair.

About Dr. Aklog, M.D.:
Dr. Lishan Aklog is the current Director and Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at The Heart and Lung Institute of St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona and Director of EmpowHer's Medical Advisory Board. Specializing in adult cardiac care, he graduated from Harvard College followed by Harvard Medical School. Dr. Aklog was a cardiothoracic resident at Brigham and Women’s/Boston Children’s Hospital, an Associate Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, and completed international fellowships in London, England and Paris, France.

View Dr. Aklog Videos:
http://www.empowher.com/users/dr-lishan-aklog

Visit Dr. Aklog at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center

 
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