I just received a question from Emma about the normal size of an aortic valve.
She writes, “Hi Adam, I’ve been diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis although I am asymptomatic. I believe I’m on the path to surgery as my echo shows a valve area of 0.9. I’m curious. What is the normal size of the [...]

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In response to our recent discussions about the progression of heart valve stenosis and rheumatic heart valve disease, I have received several emails about the anatomy of the heart and the anatomy of our heart valves. Most of these inquiries have come from patients recently diagnosed with some form of severe valvular disorder.

Interactive Heart Anatomy [...]

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Emma just emailed me an interesting question about aortic stenosis and the rate at which this form of heart valve disease progresses.

Aortic Valve Stenosis – Narrow Heart Valve
She writes, “Hi Adam – I’ve recently been diagnosed with moderate aortic stenosis even though I have no symptoms. My latest echocardiogram shows a valve area of 1.2 [...]

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Okay, here’s our heart valve trivia question for the day:
How many times do your four heart valves open-and-close every day? 
A. 4,000
B. 40,000
C. 400,000
D. 4,000,000

According to The Cleveland Clinic, your heart beats about 100,000 every day. Considering there are four valves in the heart, which open-and-close with each heart beat, the answer is… 400,000.
To see how [...]

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A 51-year-old Idaho woman has had to have three of four heart valves replaced, thanks to the now-banned diet drug, fen-phen. In a recent interview, Cindy Cartwright urged others like her who had taken fen-phen to undergo a medical evaluation, regardless how much time had passed since they had [...]

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