I had an echo about a year ago and was told I had mild mitral regurgitation. I was also told that this shows up on the majority of echos and is nothing to worry about. Progression should be slow. I am only 32 now. My grandmother was diagnosed with this when she was 15. She is now 78 and it has not changed over all those years. Hope this brings some comfort.
Thank you for your response.a also that that trace amd mild eguration were the sa,e thing,am I wrong? I hope you are doing well,I have had all the echos once a year since 2008 but have not had a stress test
All my heart valves leak a little. My cardio is not worried about this--except for one valve, the Aortic Valve, which should *not* leak. One of the reasons it is doing this is that there are 'deposits' of some type on the leaflets. The fact that I have something called 'Reactive Arthritis,' an autoimmune condition which has effects of its own on the Aortic Valve, may be a contributor.
All this was discovered about 8 years ago. In general, the regurgitation is so minor and normal that my doctor would not worry at all about it--except for that Aortic Valve, where leakage does matter.
As a result, I get a stress test and Echo and so on about every year. So far, there has been no progression. If the valve does fail, I will surgery for a replacement.
However, as for the other heart valves, I have been told repeatedly that for these, Trace, Mild, or even Moderate regurgitation are normal as one ages, and to be ignored unless they produce real symptoms. A little regurgitation from anything but the Aortic Valve is OK and no big surprise.
In general, normal people can expect that calcification and regurgitation will probably increase a little and slowly over one's lifetime.