Guide 4 Medicos

An artificial heart valve is a device implanted in the heart of a patient with heart valvular disease. When one of the four heart valves malfunctions, the medical choice may be to replace the natural valve with an artificial valve. This requires open-heart surgery.
Valves are integral to the normal physiological functioning of the human heart. Natural heart valves are evolved to forms that perform the functional requirement of inducing unidirectional blood flow through the valve structure from one chamber of the heart to another. Natural heart valves become dysfunctional for a variety of pathological causes. Some pathologies may require complete surgical replacement of the natural heart valve with a heart valve prostheses


            Operations to restore the function of heart valves are commonly performed. They're done to improve the health and vigor of people with heart valve diseases. The surgeon who'll perform the operation is the best person to talk to about specific questions or concerns. He or she can best explain the details of the surgical procedure and recovery period.  People with artificial heart valves are at higher risk for developing an infection of the valve (endocarditis). They are also in the highest risk category for having bad outcomes from endocarditis. The American Heart Association says that people in this highest risk category (others in this category include people who have previously had endocardits, people with certain types of congenital heart disease, and people with a heart transplant who develop heart valve problems) need to take antibiotics before most dental procedures.  However, the association says that people undergoing gastrointestinal or genitourinary procedures do not need to take routine antibiotics solely to prevent endocarditis.