According to the American Heart Association, approximately 5 million Americans are diagnosed with valvular heart disease every year.

With heart valve disease, your blood flow may be obstructed, slowed down, or flow backward. These conditions make your heart work harder to maintain adequate blood flow. Most heart valve disease occurs in the mitral and aortic valves due to their position and function in the left side of the heart, where pumping action is greater.

Two conditions characterize most heart valve disease:

  • Stenosis: The valve opening is narrowed because leaflets have become rigid, thickened or fused together.  Blood flow is obstructed, forcing the heart to work harder as it pumps blood.  Stenosis can affect any of your four valves.
  • Insufficiency (also called regurgitation, incompetence or leaky valve): The valve does not close completely, causing blood to flow backward into the heart. By having to pump extra blood through the valve, your heart may enlarge and become weaker and less efficient over time. All four of your valves (aortic, mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary) are susceptible to insufficiency.

In some cases, stenosis and insufficiency occur together.