Questions posted in the
Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
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Subject: Re: Mitral Valve Prolapse Thank you for maintaining this website. It's been very helpful so far. I am a 28 year old healthy female. One year ago, I was diagnosed as having MVP after an echocardiogram showed a "mildly thickened and/or redundant mitral valve" and "trace to physiologic" mitral regurgitation. (I had been having very mild chest pains.) All other readings were normal. Several months later, after complaining of distressing palpitations, a 24-hr. holter monitor showed 240 PVCs. My cardiologist tells me, first of all, nothing to worry about. He recommends I take antibiotics prior to dental procedures, take low-dose Tenormin for controlling the PVCs if I want, exercise as much as I like, and come back to see him each year just to check on things. So it's been a year now. I have learned not to panic over the PVCs, but they continue to scare me from time to time. My questions are:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I doubt your mitral valve has anything to do with your symptoms. Your PVCs are unrelated. You do not have a serious underlying heart defect. In patients with MVP (a common diagnosis) the leaky valve can get worse over time in a small number of patients. The Tenormin does not help or hurt this. Your cardiologist wants to see you annually to make sure the valve is not getting worse. If the valve gets very leaky, that can lead to heart failure. The PVCs do not hurt the heart or valves. The Tenormin only treats your symptoms from the PVCs. Based on what you have written, there is no real medical need to take it. No one can say how the pregnancy will affect your PVCs; that is more a matter of your perception. I would favor slowly coming off the Tenormin before becoming pregnant, but you should discuss that sort of issue with your doctors. Pregnancy should not damage your heart or valve. I hope this is useful. Feel free to write back. I wish you the best of luck. If you would like to set up an appointment with one of our cardiologists here at the Cleveland Clinic please feel free to call 1-800-CCF-CARE. Information provided in the Heart Forum is intended for general medical informational purposes only. Actual diagnosis and treatment of any particular medical condition can only be made by your physician(s).
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