Can you live a normal life with a bicuspid aortic valve?
Many people can live with a bicuspid aortic valve for their entire life, but there are those who may need to have their valve surgically replaced or repaired. When people are born with a bicuspid aortic valve, the bicuspid valve typically functions well throughout childhood and early adulthood.
Can a bicuspid aortic valve fix itself?
“There is no magic medical treatment; the only treatment is surgery,” Yang says. An aortic valve repair or replacement may occur, depending on a person’s condition. If the quality of the valve leaflets is good, repair is possible.
What should you avoid with a bicuspid aortic valve?
Most people with BAV can safely exercise without significant restrictions. Strenuous isometric exercise (e.g., weight-lifting, climbing steep inclines, chin-ups), should be avoided if there is severe valve disease, or moderate to severe aortic ectasia.
How is aortic ectasia treated?
There are two main treatments for aortic aneurysms: medicine and surgery. Medicine can lower blood pressure, relax the blood vessels, and reduce the risk of rupture. Surgery can repair or replace the weak and/or damaged segment of the aorta.
What does it mean to have bicuspid aortic valve?
What is bicuspid aortic valve? Bicuspid aortic valve is a type of abnormality in the aortic valve in the heart. In bicuspid aortic valve, the valve has only two small parts, called leaflets, instead of the normal three. This condition is present from birth.
Are there any surgical treatments for bicuspid valve disease?
As diseased bicuspid valves are structurally problematic, medicine can not cure or treat this disorder. That said, the two types of surgical treatment for bicuspid valves are aortic valve repair and aortic valve replacement.
What happens if you have a defective bicuspid valve?
As the defective valve ages, however, you can develop stenosis, which is when calcium builds up on the valve flaps causing them to stiffen and narrow. If your bicuspid valve doesn’t close completely, it can cause regurgitation, which is blood leaking back into the heart.
What are the leaflets of the bicuspid valve?
The BAV is composed of not three aortic normal leaflets – as in the normal tricuspid valve – but two abnormal leaflets, usually unequal in size, possibly resulting from inadequate fibrillin-1 production during valvulogenesis. (10) The most common form has the two commissures located in an anteroposterior direction giving left and right cusps.