Ok so, when i was about 13/14 the doctors discovered i have an extra valve in my heart.
I want to find out more about this - i never used to but i do now.
Is it common etc. I've ******d a whole bunch of things but i cannot find any info on someone having an extra valve in their heart.


Help?

Ok so, when i was about 13/14 the doctors discovered i have an extra valve in my heart.
I want to find out more about this - i never used to but i do now.
Is it common etc. I've ******d a whole bunch of things but i cannot find any info on someone having an extra valve in their heart.


Help?
I too would like to find out more about an extra valve in the heart. A 17 girl who is very close to our family has an extra valve and was hospitalized yesterday because of a very rapid heart beat. I can't find any information on extra valves either.

I have NEVER heard of extra valves in my cardiac training. There is such a thing as having an extra leaflet on a valve, is this what you two might be thinking of?

You have 4 valves in your heart..tricuspid, pulmonary, aortic, and mitral. They all have leaflets that act like gates to open and close to let blood in and out. the tricuspid, aortic, and pulmonary valves all have 3 leaflets per valve. However the Mitral valve is only suppose to have 2 leaflets, it is called bicuspid. Sometimes in development that leaflet splits and you end up with a 3 leaflet mitral valve as well. I would venture to say this what you two are speaking of.

I am no professional but my six and a half month old grandson died April 9, 2008 from a bicuspid leaflet in his pulmonary valve. It leaked blood back into his right ventricle which caused it to enlarge then caused a cardiac dysrhythemia which caused sudden death. We didn't even know he had this condition till after the autopsy. There were no murmurs or symptoms. He just simply died in his sleep and at first we thought it was from SIDS because he seemed so healthy. This is not a well researched condition in children. It is a birth defect that is congenital and can not be detected with an ultrasound while the mother is pregnant. Very little is known on how to recognize the symptoms or how to detect it without a echocardiogram, which is not done in hospitals as part of the wellness checks before babies come home. Babies are checked for hearing, vision, hepititis, etc., but the most important part of the body, the heart, is only monitored with a EKG which in his case and many others does not pick up conditions like heart valves and leaflet problems. If his condition had been caught, he would not be dead now. It can be fixed. We need more research, especially in children. I hope you have better luck then we have had in finding out the information you're looking for. Contact the Heart Association to see if they have information, if you haven't already done so. We checked, they had information on adults with the condition but not children. Good luck and take care. God be with you.