Tricuspid Valve Regurgitation begins when one or more of the three valve leaflets fail to close effectively.
The curative literature also refers to tricuspid regurgitation as tricuspid incompetence and tricuspid insufficiency, but it is more commonly referred to simply as a leaky heart valve.
Fortunately, most regurgitating tricuspid valves wish no treatment. They do not develop to the acute symptomatic stages. By far, most habitancy with this valvular disorder go about their lives never knowing about their malfunctioning tricuspid valve.
Tricuspid regurgitation is regularly caused by heart disorders that develop the right ventricle, as the right ventricle enlarges, the tricuspid valve stretches, causing regurgitation.
However, less frequently, pacemaker and defibrillator lead discharge complications can cause severe regurgitation of the tricuspid valve. The leads can come to be entangled in the valve leaflets, or they can, over time, bond to one of the leaflets.
When the lead or leads are extracted, the valve can be severely damaged necessitating open heart surgical operation to repair the damage. Sometimes the valve is so severely damaged that it can't be repaired. In those cases, a valve exchange surgical operation is needed.
Many times the damage to the valve can go undetected until the sick person becomes severely symptomatic. Often tricuspid regurgitation (Tr) patients contact neck pulsations and sometimes, depending upon the severity of the regurgitation, large bulbous areas can be seen in the neck veins.
Other symptoms can be rapid progression of frailness to the point of mystery in standing; fluid holding in the stomach, legs, and lower extremities; breathlessness; fainting; atrial fibrillation or flutter; and even congestive heart failure.
If you begin to contact any of these symptoms, get yourself to your physician or accident clinic. After taking your history, your physician will listen to your heart with a stethoscope.
If you have important valve leakage, a murmur can be heard. This murmur, "whooshing" sound, alerts the physician that there is a need for tests to rule the severity of your heart valve disorder.
You will, more than likely, be referred to a cardiologist, a physician specializing in heart disorders and diseases. The cardiologist has an whole battery of tests at his disposal to help him or her rule exactly what is wrong with your heart.
The most important test for diagnosing heart valve regurgitation is an echocardiogram (heart echo). But, a chest x-ray and electrocardiogram (Ekg) may also be used first to see if signs of a leaking valve are present. If they are present, echocardiography is regularly ordered to confirm the diagnosis.
Other tests that may be used to assess how severe your heart valve disorder is are cardiac catheterization (heart cath), cardiac Mri, and stress testing. Undergoing these tests, while inconvenient for you, will help your cardiologist institute the best plan for your treatment.
If it is considered that you need valve surgery, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor. Globally, some 250,000 heart valve surgeries are performed every year.
With today's new heart valve surgical operation advancements, heart valve repair and exchange surgeries are almost disposition to the cardiothoracic surgeons that specialize in them. The mortality rate now stands at between 2% to 5%, but those numbers continue to improve.
