If you have a faulty heart valve that’s affecting blood flow in your heart, valvuloplasty could relieve the problem. The expert cardiologists at ARK Cardiovascular & Arrhythmia Center offer minimally invasive valvuloplasty at their Dearborn, Detroit, and Trenton, Michigan offices. To find out if this procedure is a good choice for your heart problem, call your nearest office today, or use the online form to book an appointment.
Valvuloplasty is a procedure the ARK Cardiovascular & Arrhythmia Center team performs to restore blood flow through your heart’s valves.
The four valves in your heart have flaps (leaflets) that open and close to push blood through on its journey around your body. The valves sometimes become stiff or hard, or the opening gets narrow, which means less blood can pass through.
Valvuloplasty can improve blood flow and relieve symptoms of valve problems, which may include:
Before recommending valvuloplasty, your ARK Cardiovascular & Arrhythmia Center provider performs a comprehensive assessment to see if this is the best option, or whether another treatment might be better.
Your provider might recommend valvuloplasty for stenosis of the mitral, aortic, tricuspid, or pulmonary valves — the four valves in your heart. Stenosis means narrowing, which could occur because of a scar tissue buildup, calcium deposits from your blood that collect over the years, or a congenital condition (a heart abnormality you have at birth).
Usually, valvuloplasty is an option that doctors use when you have severe narrowing and symptoms of heart valve stenosis. However, you might benefit from valvuloplasty for mitral valve stenosis even if you’re not experiencing any symptoms.
Adults and children can have valvuloplasty for aortic valve stenosis, but the valve tends to become narrow again in adults afterward.
Therefore, your provider at ARK Cardiovascular & Arrhythmia Center might suggest valvuloplasty for aortic stenosis only if you’re too sick to undergo surgery or to keep you going while you wait for a valve replacement procedure.
Valvuloplasty usually takes place under sedation, which means you’re awake but calm and sleepy. Your provider inserts a long, slender tube called a catheter into an artery, typically one in your arm or groin. The catheter has a deflated balloon on its tip, so the procedure is often known as balloon valvuloplasty.
Using X-ray images as a guide, your provider feeds the catheter into the narrowed heart valve. They inflate the balloon, which expands the opening of the valve, separating the leaflets. When the opening is wide enough, your provider deflates the balloon and removes the catheter.
To find out if you’re a good candidate for valvuloplasty, call ARK Cardiovascular & Arrhythmia Center today, or book an appointment online.