faulty valve and ectopics

Hi ive not been on here for a long time, just wanted someone to answer me, my sister has a faulty left valve and again has started to get ectopic heartbeats?

is a leaky valve considered an abnormality or heart disease? or both or none :/

she tends to get them when she is stressed but they wake  her in the middle of the night, should she go back to the doctors for more tests?

i was under the impression they are dangerous in abormal hearts?

thanks :)

[Jerry_NJ]

All undiagnosed heart symptoms should be evaluated by a medical person, preferably a cardiologist.

You description of a "left valve" doesn't identify the which valve.  If the Mitral Valve, it is the one on the left side that prevents blood flow from the left ventricle to the left atrium.  This valve can exhibit some slight leakage without requiring action.  In my case it was causing an enlargement of my left atrium which may have a key cause of my atrial fibrillation.  Still, my AFib was treated for about 8 years without any action to stop the leakage.  During this time I received a periodic (every 2 years or so) echocardiogram to measure the leakage and size of my heart chambers.  The left atrium did continue to slowly enlarge and in 2007 I underwent heart surgery to repair the mitral valve.  The message I got, was open heart surgery was delayed as long as possible.  That said, I had no problems with this surgery, albeit a very serious intervention.

To your other point, AFib normally causes an irregular heart beat, and may cause high, even very high, heart rates.

[kay2486]

hi thanks for replying, she was born with a hole in heart a vsd, im unsure of what valve it is........
she had an operation 8 years ago to repair the murmur that was done but they didnt repair the valve as it was risky at the time i have no idea why, i was told by mum they lost her at one point then did not do the valve repair, she has been seen by doctor after doctor spent a week in hospital too n nothing was recorded, i can remember my dad saying the palpatations arent harmful unless they start the skip beats, but he cannot remember saying that to me.
she also has checkups every years as she has heart condition and they say last year heart was in fab condition.

[Jerry_NJ]

Great, she is under a doctor's care.  That is the best way to deal with heart issues.  It sounds to me like she should okay, I send my best wishes.

I believe doctors will recommend not undergoing heart surgery unless there threat of heart failure without the surgery.

In my case I was estimated to go into congestive heart failure in a few years if I didn't have my valve repaired. I did not reach this condition until I was 67 years old, so I lived with a leaky valve for many years before the surgery was undertaken.  My valve has been repaired.  The operations is well understood, but it still has sufficient risk that it isn't done urgently needed.