An operation to correct a heart valve defect or to remove a diseased or damaged valve. A heart valve may have to be repaired, widened, or replaced because it is either incompetent (leaky) or stenotic (narrowed). Widening of a valve may involve valvotomy or valvuloplasty. A damaged valve can be replaced by a mechanical one (fashioned from metal and plastic), a valve constructed from human tissue, a pig valve, or a valve taken from a human donor after death. A heart–lung machine is used during replacement. After heart-valve surgery, symptoms such as breathlessness may take weeks to improve and require medication to be continued. Some people need longterm treatment with anticoagulant drugs to prevent the formation of blood clots around the new valve.
Heart-valve surgery |
|
|