The heart is divided into four chambers. Each of these chambers is separated by a valve that keeps blood flowing through the heart in one direction. The aortic, pulmonic, tricuspid and mitral valves can become diseased. The most common diseases occur in the aortic or mitral valves. When the valves become diseased, patients experience a variety of symptoms.
Heart Failure
Heart failure occurs when the heart cannot adequately pump blood into the system. Either the heart contracts ineffectively or blood is blocked from moving out of the heart. In valvular disease, heart failure occurs because either a leaky valve is refluxing blood back to the heart or a stiff valve won't open to allow blood out. In either case, blood backs up in the system and eventually causes a cluster of symptoms. According to the Cleveland Clinic, shortness of breath, swelling of the legs and ankles or peripheral edema, swollen neck veins and sudden weight gain are symptoms of congestive heart failure. Treatment for this is usually diuretics, which will help remove excess fluid and increase the vascular space by dilating the arteries.
Heart Murmur
A heart murmur may be the first symptom that indicates valvular disease. A murmur is the sound of turbulent blood flow through an orifice. When blood passes through a damaged valve, the normally smooth flow of blood is interrupted. The flow is disturbed and becomes chaotic as the blood pushes past the obstacle in its way. As it moves forward, this turbulent flow creates a sound, heard as a murmur. The normal lub-dub sound that the heart makes is changed. Different sounds occur for the different valves. The damaged valves make special sounds and are heard better on different areas of the chest. Some murmurs are high and squeaky, other murmurs are low and sound like growling. A physician will listen to multiple areas on the chest when listening to the heart to identify where the sound is coming from.
Palpitations
Palpitations of the heart occasionally feel like the heart is racing, flip-flopping or skipping beats, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Palpitations can be a symptom of valvular disease. When a valve is damaged, the damage can extend to the electrical conduction system of the heart. Interference with this system can cause abnormal heart rhythms and be felt as palpitations.
