What Is Aortic Stenosis?

Aortic Stenosis refers to when the aorta valve narrows down. This impedes the blood flow delivery from your heart to the body. The rheumatic fever’ scarred aorta valve, wear out aorta valve, and congenital bicuspid aortic valve cause aortic Stenosis. This disease can lead to pain in the chest, heart failure and fainting. It will ultimately lead to shortness of breath. Cardiac catheterization and echocardiogram are the two diagnostic tests for this disease. They can even help in identifying the severity of the disease. Patients suffering from aortic Stenosis take antibiotics usually before any procedures done to them, which may lead to the entering of bacteria in the bloodstream like the dental procedures as well as surgeries. Patients suffering from this disease and having its symptoms will need heart valve replacement to recover.

What Do You Need to Know About Aortic Stenosis?

When the aorta valve narrows down, abnormally, it is called Aortic Stenosis. Many conditions lead to this disease of narrowing the aorta valve. When the aorta valves start to narrow down a lot, this significant change impedes the blood flow to the heart from the left ventricle. Heart problems also start to develop as a consequence.

Malfunctioning of The Heart

There are four heart valves and four chambers in this muscular pump. This muscular pump is your heart. The valves are thin enough and fill up the chambers. The blood flows from the left and right atria over the mitral valves and tricuspid inside the thin-walled and filling lower chambers. These are the left and right ventricles which have muscular walls. They are thick and pump blood across the aortic and pulmonic valves in the circulation system. During every heartbeat cycle, heart valves open and close at the right time.

The thin leaflets of the tissue are the heart valves. The heart valves have the primary function of preventing blood from flowing back to the heart. Other nutrients and blood circulate the body through arteries. Carbon dioxide is returned as waste to the right atrium through veins. Blood passes into the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve from its right atrium during the relaxation of ventricles.

During the contraction of ventricles, blood is pumped from its right ventricle into your lungs through the pulmonic valve. It is done to reload the oxygen and move carbon dioxide as waste. Oxygenated blood comes back to the left atrium by passing through the valve, mitral inside the left ventricle. Blood reaches aorta as well as the arteries of the human body through the aorta valve, pumped by the left ventricle.

When the person is suffering from aorta stenosis, then there is impairment during the blood flow to the arteries of the person’s body. Ultimately, the result can be heart failure. This disease is more commonly found in men three times in comparison to women.

Angina Symptoms and Its Causes

Another symptom of heart problems is Angina. It is one of the most common and widely spread heart diseases in the world. Angina is caused due to aortic Stenosis, poisoning, emphysema, and abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias).

The congenital defect of the heart known as the bicuspid aortic valve can cause aorta stenosis in some people. This condition persists mostly at the time of aging when calcium is depleting, or the scarring is damaging the valves. This will restrict the blood flow through the valves and arteries.

Symptoms of Aortic Stenosis

You must be wondering if there are any symptoms of Aortic Stenosis? So, the answer is no; it is not necessary to see symptoms. It is important to remember that people suffering from aorta stenosis already knew nothing about it and had not experienced the less flow of blood until it is reduced significantly. However, keep a note in your mind that there are the symptoms of this disease listed below that can be noticed:

Breathlessness
Tightness or pressure in the chest, angina (chest pain)
Heart murmur
Fainting that is known as syncope
Declining activity level or reduction inabilities to do normal activities that require mild exertion
Feeling of pounding, noticeable or heavy heartbeats, or palpitations.

You must remember that a person suffering from aorta stenosis hardly complains about any of the symptoms. However, make sure if you see considerable fatigue or decline in physical activities in any of your family members, it is worthy of visiting the South Florida Cardiovascular Specialist to get your family member checked. They may figure out the possibility or reason behind the declining function of the heart.

However, children and infants who have the aortic Stenosis because of a congenital defect, they may show symptoms like a failure in gaining weight, fatigue during exhaustion or exertion, inadequate or poor feeding and shortness of breath.

Aortic Stenosis: A terminal Problem?

Besides the obvious symptoms of aorta stenosis like the patient may feel lethargic, weak and faint, the left ventricle’s wall may get thicken up due to hard work done by ventricle for pumping blood to the aorta through the narrow opening of the valve.

The thickened walls consume more space in the lower chamber of hearts. This decreases the room of an adequate quantity of blood that needs to be supplied to the body. This may lead to heart failure ultimately. Fortunately, this disease can be treated by slowing down or reversed at an early stage.

People at Risk of Aortic Stenosis

Aortic Stenosis is a disease commonly prevailing in older adults whose calcium is depleting and building up in the valve cusp as well as scarring. Aortic Stenosis related to age starts after 60 years. But it is possible that it does not show its symptoms even at 70-80 years.

Aortic Stenosis in the young is due to the defect at birth time. Only two cusps are grown instead of the three cusps, normally. This is known as the bicuspid valve.

Another major cause is that the valve opening and heart does not grow along with each other. This increases the workload of the heart by pumping more blood to its restricted openings. Due to calcium build-up, the defective valve may turn to be narrow and stiff.

So, considering the South Florida Cardiovascular Specialist to provide you with the best treatment according to your situation.