Sharon's MVP History

I am a 41 year old female nurse, recently diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse:

B/P 138/86, P86, cholesterol 150, HDL 6 1, triglycerides 73, LDL calculated 74. My symptoms are palpitations, left chest pain, left arm pain (it feels like someone has pumped up a B/P cuff around my arm and left it there). The longest time I had that sensation was 5 hours - another time was about 1 hour - now it comes and goes.
I have numbness in the left side of my jaw that comes and goes. I haven't heard of patients with MW having arm pain or 'aw numbness - is this unusual?

Stress echo revealed: - Baseline EKG: inferior non-specific ST- T.wave changes - Exercise EKG: no significant ST changes - Exercise capacity - average - no arrhythmias - B/P response normal Estimated EF 60% Pre - exercise: left ventricle normal in size with normal wall motion. N4VP is present. Normal doppler exam. Post - exercise: normal wall motion after exercise Interpretation: stress echo negative for ischemia, normal exercise EKG, and non-specific ST abnormalities at rest Echo doppler reveals MVP otherwise unremarkable.

Rest/ Stress Exercise Myocardial Perfusion Report (card iolite) reveals: EKG tracings - The baseline EKG sinus rhythm, non-specific ST wave abnormalities. With exercise, repolarization abnormalities normalize. Scintigraphic Images - The tomograms reveal mild breast attenuation. SPECT images are consistent with breast artifact and no definite perfusion abnormalities are seen. Wall motion is normal at rest and post stress with a LV ejection fraction of 67%. Impression - The combined test findings reveal a normal stress perfusion study with normal LV function and motion.

Father

[CCF-M.D.-RCJ]

Sharon,

Thanks for the post.  The information was helpful.

Unfortunately, I cannot reassure you that everything is alright.  It is most likely that you have atypical chest pain syndrome -- the 2 stress tests are both approximately 80% accurate for diagnosing coronary artery disease.  Having both further increases the likelihood that everything is ok, but you could still be one of those persons who actually has the disease in the face of negative noninvasive tests.

Whether or not you should undergo further testing is a judgement call, and depends on you.  If you are having frequent spells, and are distressed about them, then perhaps a cath is in order.  If you are not distressed about the spells, then learning to deal with the discomfort may be reasonable.  Either way, this decision needs to be discussed with the doctor that will be taking care of you over the long term.

Hope that helps.

[Avel]

Hi Sharon,
In reading your father's history, I just want to encourage you to have your aorta evaluated. Being a first degree relative of someone with aortic disease, it is very important that you as well as any other family members be checked for aortic disease. If you would like to discuss this with me further, I can be reached at ***@****
Best wishes to you.

[NBCT]

Dear Sharon, I just read your post and had to comment.I am almost 41 years old, a nurse, and found out I had MVP,of a moderate degree with mild to mod. MR 3 years ago. I have been taking Toprol XL daily since then which has helped reduce the bursts of rapid heartrates,freguent PVC's & PAC's. I have also excepted and learned to cope with the feelings of a relentless day or week of palpitations. However, I have been having episodes recently as you decribed. I have always felt what has been deemed to be atypical chest pain, but now notice a longer time felt with left arm pain and tightness, and a jaw pain on my left side that subsides when the feeling is over. I am afraid to move during the episode and would swear it was a heart attack in the making. The cadiologist did a scan before and after a treadmill exercise and said all seemed normal. The MD's comment about the accuracy of these test has been in the back of my mind knowing that the golden test is a cardiac cath. in determining CAD. Just wondering if anyone reading these posts has had similar symptoms with a negative scan and suffered a heart attack soon after, that may help in deciding if further intervention is needed.       Thanks.