History of the Disease
One of the most common cardiac abnormalities in the United States is Mitral Valve Prolapse, also known as MVP, which affects about 2-6% of Americans. It is a disorder of the bicuspid valve, which causes backflow of blood from the left ventricle back into the left atrium (Sims & Miracle, 2007). MVP can also be identified as click-murmur syndrome, floppy mitral valve, and Barlow syndrome (Kornusky & Cabrera, 2014). In past studies, it was known that MVP affected mainly women, however recent studies show that it equally affects men as well (Sims & Miracle, 2007). In roughly 19% of adults older than the age of 50 will develop mitral valve regurgitation over their lifetime (Kornusky …show more content…
Patients in this small group will require extensive medical evaluations and treatments (Utz & Ramos, 1992). Endocarditis is inflammation of the endocardium usually in the heart valves that is caused from a bacteria infection that has entered the bloodstream. An embolism is when a blood clot has broke free from the blood vessel walls and obstruct the blood vessels either in the heart, lungs or brain. If the clot obstructs the coronary circulation, it can ultimately cause death of the heart muscle and result in fatal heart attack. It can also cause the patient to have a stroke if the embolus reaches the brain (Marieb &Hoehn, …show more content…
Prolapse of the mitral valve occurs when the leaflet(s) distend back up into the left atrium during ventricular contraction, also referred to as systole. This can lead to the valves not closing properly and producing mitral regurgitation. The leaflet(s) are increased in size due to the myxomatous mitral valve degeneration, which causes them to curl backwards into the atrium at the time of systole (Sims & Miracle, 2007). Other degenerative patterns include fibroelastic deficiency, collagen alterations, and mucopolysaccharide accumulation (Pellerin, Brecker & Veyrat, 2002). Tissue in a normal valve is composed of three layers: inner ventricularis, middle spongiosa, and outer fibrosa. It is revealed that patients with MVP have an expansion of the spongiosa layer of the valve due to collection of proteoglycans, modifications of collagen in all structures of the leaflet, and uncharacteristic chordae (Hayek, Gring & Griffin, 2005). It is stated, “the underlying mechanism of myxomatous degeneration of mitral apparatus is still unknown” (Yiginer, Keser, Ozmen, Tokatli, Kardesoglu, Isilak, Uz, and Uzun,