Heart Valves
When one or more of the 4 heart valves becomes damaged or diseased, it can affect the flow of blood through the heart.
Valves can either become restricted in their opening thereby reducing the amount of blood that can flow through the heart or “leaky” when they don’t completely close.
Whilst a mild amount of leak or slight narrowing of any of the valves may not be of clinical concern, anything more than this requires regular (annual) monitoring. In time, medications may need to be added and eventually the valve may need to be replaced. This can be by open heart surgery or a “keyhole” procedure depending on the valve involved and the nature of the disease. Once the valvular disease approaches being severe, monitoring needs to be more frequent – typically every 6 months.
All our memberships offer access to the following general services:
- Advice and support via email with named consultant
- Private Prescription amendments where required
- Access to introductory offers from our trusted nutritionists and personal trainers
What’s included
Our Valve Membership package includes the following:
Annual consultation with your named consultant in person or online – it’s your choice
ECG test – assesses your heart rhythm and looks for changes that may represent progression of valvular disease
Echocardiogram (echo) – monitors cardiac function including with a focus on the severity of any diagnosed valvular disease.
Exercise Tolerance Test – this allows assessment of symptoms and the ECG at high levels of exercise. This may help your cardiologist decide how severe your heart valve disease is.
OR
Ambulatory ECG test - this monitors your heart rhythm for up to 7 days and assesses whether there are any associated heart rhythm disorders that may be linked to valvular heart disease.
Relevant blood tests – These typically include checks on kidney, liver, thyroid function as well as checks on blood lipids and sugar.