What happens if a valve in the heart is damaged

A tube will be put through your mouth or nose into your stomach to drain stomach fluids. Someone on the surgical team will clean the skin over your chest with an antiseptic solution. If there is a lot of hair at the surgical site, it may be shaved off.

If you are having an open-heart surgery, your healthcare provider will make an incision cut down the center of the chest from just below the Adam's apple to just above the navel.

If you are having a less invasive procedure it may require smaller incisions. The sternum breastbone will be cut in half lengthwise. The healthcare provider will separates the halves of the breastbone and spread them apart to expose your heart. To do the valve repair or replacement, your doctor must stop your heart. He or she will put tubes into the heart so that the blood can be pumped through your body by a heart-lung bypass machine while your heart is stopped. Once the blood has been completely diverted into the bypass machine for pumping, your doctor will stop your heart by injecting it with a cold solution.

When the heart has stopped, your doctor will remove the diseased valve and put in the artificial valve, in the case of a valve replacement. For a valve repair, the procedure done will depend on the type of valve problem you have, for example, your doctor may separate fused valve leaflets, repair torn leaflets, or reshape valve parts to ensure better function.

Once the surgery is done, your doctor will shock your heart with small paddles to restart your heartbeat. Next, he or she will allow blood circulating through the bypass machine to re-enter your heart and remove the tubes to the machine.

Once your heart is beating again, your doctor will watch it to see how well the heart and valves are working and be sure that there are no leaks from the surgery. Your doctor may put wires for pacing into your heart. He or she can attach these wires to a pacemaker outside your body for a short time and your heart can be paced, if needed, during the initial recovery period. Your doctor will rejoin the sternum sewing it together with small wires like those sometimes used to repair a broken bone.

Your doctor will put tubes into your chest to drain blood and other fluids from around the heart. Your doctor will sew the skin over the sternum back together and close the incision with sutures or surgical staples. After the surgery, a member of the surgical team will take you to a recovery room and later the intensive care unit ICU to be closely monitored for several days.

A nurse will connect you to machines that will constantly display your electrocardiogram ECG tracing, blood pressure, other pressure readings, breathing rate, and your oxygen level. Open-heart valve repair or replacement surgery generally requires an in-hospital stay of several days or longer. You will most likely have a tube in your throat that's connected to a ventilator to help you breath until you are stable enough to breathe on your own. As you wake up from the anesthesia more and start to breathe by yourself, your doctor can adjust the breathing machine to allow you to take over more of the breathing.

When you are awake enough to breathe completely by yourself and are able to cough, your doctor will remove the breathing tube. He or she may also remove the stomach tube at this time.

After the breathing tube is out, a nurse will help you cough and take deep breaths every couple of hours. This will be uncomfortable due to soreness, but it is very important that you do this to keep mucus from collecting in your lungs and possibly causing pneumonia. Your nurse will show you how to hug a pillow tightly against your chest while coughing to help ease the discomfort. You will get pain medicine if you are hurting.

Ask for the medicine before you become extremely uncomfortable. You may be on IV intravenous medicines to help your blood pressure and your heart and to control any problems with bleeding. As your condition stabilizes, your doctor will gradually decrease then stop these medicines. He or she will also remove any pacing wires in your heart you may have.

Once your doctor has removed the breathing and stomach tubes and you are stable, you may start to drink liquids. You can start eating more solid foods as soon as you can tolerate them.

When your healthcare provider decides that you are ready, you will be moved from the ICU to a surgical unit or acute care unit. When heart valves become diseased or damaged, they may not fully open or close. This makes it hard for your heart to pump properly. Your heart may try to make up for this by pumping harder to keep enough blood moving around your body. This can cause other heart problems as your heart muscle becomes overworked.

There are two types of heart valve disease: stenosis and regurgitation. Some people may have a combination of both. Stenosis is when your valve doesn't open properly. This means pressure and blood can back up, causing strain on your heart. Regurgitation also called insufficiency is when your valve doesn't close properly. This lets blood leak back through your valve, rather than forcing it in one direction only, and forces your heart to work harder to keep enough blood circulating around your body.

It's not always possible to tell what has caused your heart valve disease, but common causes include:. This is often one of the first signs of heart valve disease.

Recovery and Healthy Living Goals. Personal Stories. Heart Valve Disease Resources. Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day.

How would I know if I am having symptoms of valve disease? Some people have no symptoms, yet they can still have a valve problem that needs treatment.

Last Reviewed: May 11, Heart Valve Disease Resources Find out more about your heart valves and how to manage heart valve disease.