Heart valve disease in general practice: a clinical overview.

Abstract

The burden of heart valve disease is rising in line with increasing life expectancy and the prevalence of moderate or severe disease is 13% in people aged ≥75 years old.1 The most common lesions are aortic stenosis (Figure 1) due to calcific disease and mitral regurgitation (Figure 2) as a result of mitral prolapse or secondary to left ventricular dysfunction. Untreated valve disease leads to premature death whereas valve surgery may prolong life.2 However, patients with valve disease are often not detected or are referred late and there is a large variation in access to valve surgery across the country.3 Figure 1. Parasternal long-axis echocardiogram in a patient with severe aortic stenosis. The heavily thickened aortic valve is marked with a red arrow. The left atrium (LA), left ventricle (LV), right ventricle (RV), and aorta are marked. Figure 2. Apical two-chamber echocardiogram in a patient with mitral regurgitation (A) with colour flow — marked with red arrow (B). The left atrium (LA), left ventricle (LV), anterior mitral valve leaflet (AMVL), and posterior mitral valve leaflet (PMVL are marked. Auscultation is a good screen and should be performed in patients with exertional chest pain, breathlessness, or syncope and also non-specifically reduced exercise capacity. Any first-degree relative …