Disease of The Aortic Valve
There are two protypical processes that can affect the aortic valve - aortic stenosis in which the valve fails to open fully, thereby obstructing blood flow out from the heart, and aortic insufficiency, also called aortic regurgitation, in which the aortic valve is incompetent and blood flows passively back to the heart in the wrong direction. These two conditions frequently co-exist.
- Common causes of aortic stenosis include rheumatic fever, degenerative calcification, and congenital diseases such as bicuspid aortic valve.
- Common causes of aortic regurgitation include dilation of the aorta, previous rheumatic fever, infection, i.e. infective endocarditis, myxomatous degeneration of the aortic valve, and Marfan's syndrome.
Read more about this topic: Aortic Valve
Famous quotes containing the words disease of the and/or disease:
“Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“In a country where misery and want were the foundation of the social structure, famine was periodic, death from starvation common, disease pervasive, thievery normal, and graft and corruption taken for granted, the elimination of these conditions in Communist China is so striking that negative aspects of the new rule fade in relative importance.”
—Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989)