swb@lasspvax.UUCP (Scott Brim) (01/05/86)
I'd like any information anyone can give me on "mitral valve
prolapse". What it is, how it affects the functioning of the body,
what a person with this condition should do and not do (e.g.
exercise?) -- any information will be appreciated.
Thanks very much -- Scott
--
Scott Brim swb@devvax.tn.cornell.edu
Cornell University Theory Center {decvax,ihnp4,cmcl2,vax135}!cornell!swb
607-256-8686 swb@cornella.bitnetwerner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (01/09/86)
> I'd like any information anyone can give me on "mitral valve > prolapse". What it is, how it affects the functioning of the body, > what a person with this condition should do and not do (e.g. > exercise?) -- any information will be appreciated. > Thanks very much -- Scott > Scott Brim swb@devvax.tn.cornell.edu Unlike the other heart valves, which have 3 parts, the mitral valve has 2, not to mention the burden of being subjected to regular fluctuations in pressure of 10mmHg to 120mmHg and back, on the average 80 times a minute, indefinitely, with absolutely no down time. As a result, it is an especially tricky valve. With that in mind, it is not suprising that in some people the valves may not close right and flop around a bit. This is known as 'Floppy Mitral Valve Syndrome', or 'Mitral Valve Prolapse' or a total of 27 other terms that a Cardiologist once handed me a list of. About a third of all women have the condition to some extent, and it appears to cause no problem in most of them. Some people like to worry about it, but then again, "if it's not one thing, it's another." Some women get put on Beta-blockers to keep the heart slow just in case, but this raises the ethical issue of treating healthy, assymptomatic people. Some people don't even consider it a disease, just a variant of normal. -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner "The world is just a straight man for you sometimes"
wurzelma@aecom.UUCP (John Wurzelmann) (01/09/86)
A couple of points about mitral valve prolapse (MVP). The important thing to remember is that in the overwhelmingly vast majority of people who have this condition, it is benign and needs no treatment. As Craig mentioned, propanolol is sometimes used to treat this syndrome, but only if it should be symptomatic, and then frequently on a "prn" basis. "prn" means you only take the drug when you are having symptoms, e.g. palpitations. An interesting point about MVP concerns the theoretical evolutionary origins of the syndrome. As mentioned earlier, women have mitral valve prolapse much more frequently than men. It is thought that this is so because the syndrome results from the presence of redundant mitral valve tissue, which is present in women because they need it to accomodate the enormous increase in blood volume which occurs in pregnancy. In short, women have floppy mitral valves because they need them to maintain valve function during pregnancy. In about one third of women, these valves are floppy enough to be detectable by clinical methods. These women are said to have mitral valve prolapse. Most such women are never even aware of this condition and live long happy productive lives. The important point to remember from the above discussion is that in the vast majority of people, mitral valve prolapse is a benign condition which does not require treatment. John Wurzelmann