Treatment

If you have mild to moderate mitral valve stenosis with no symptoms, you might not need immediate treatment. Instead, your doctor will monitor the valve to see if your condition worsens.

Medications

No medications can correct a mitral valve defect. However, certain drugs can reduce symptoms by easing the strain on the heart and controlling your heart rhythm.

Your doctor might prescribe one or more of the following medications:

• Diuretics to reduce fluid buildup in your lungs or elsewhere.
• Blood thinners (anticoagulants) to help prevent blood clots.
• Beta blockers, calcium channel blockers or digitalis glycosides to slow your heart rate and allow your heart to fill more effectively.
• Anti-arrhythmics to treat atrial fibrillation or other irregular heart rhythms associated with mitral valve stenosis.
• Antibiotics to prevent a return of rheumatic fever if that's what caused your mitral valve stenosis.

Surgery or other procedures

You may need valve repair or replacement to treat mitral valve stenosis, which may include surgical and nonsurgical options.

• Percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty. In this procedure, also called balloon valvotomy, a doctor inserts a soft, thin tube (catheter) tipped with a balloon in an artery in your arm or groin and guides it to the narrowed valve. Once in position, the balloon is inflated to widen the valve, improving blood flow. The balloon is then deflated, and the catheter with balloon is removed.

  Not everyone with mitral valve stenosis is a candidate for balloon valvuloplasty. Talk to your doctor to decide whether it's an option for you.

• Surgical commissurotomy. If balloon valvuloplasty isn't an option, a heart surgeon might perform this open-heart surgery to remove calcium deposits and other scar tissue to clear the valve passageway. Surgical commissurotomy requires that you be put on a heart-lung bypass machine during the surgery. You may need the procedure repeated if your mitral valve stenosis returns.

• Mitral valve replacement. If the mitral valve can't be repaired, surgery may be recommended to replace the damaged valve with a mechanical one or a valve made from cow, pig or human heart tissue (biological tissue valve).

  Biological tissue valves break down over time and may need to be replaced. If you have a mechanical valve, you will need to take blood thinners for life to prevent blood clots. Your doctor will discuss with you the benefits and risks of each type of valve and discuss which valve may be appropriate for you.