The heart has four valves: the tricuspid valve, the mitral valve, the pulmonic valve and the aortic valve. The opening and closing of heart valves produces audible sounds that can be heard with a stethoscope. When heart valves do not operate...
If you're considering beginning an exercise routine, good for you: Exercise, along with a healthy diet, is one of the best ways to stay healthy for life. However, if you have a "leaky" heart valve -- caused by any number of valvular heart diseases...
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...
According to MayoClinic.com, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the world. Forty percent of all deaths in the United States is attributed to heart disease. Heart disease is a broad term that covers many diseases of the heart....
Blue baby syndrome is a condition characterized by the bluish discoloration of the skin seen in newborns. Blue baby syndrome manifests as soon as the child is born or within the first few days of life. This syndrome is usually caused by a group of...
Maintaining a healthy heart is vital for a long, productive and fit life. Heart disease is one of the biggest killers worldwide, and the biggest killer in the United States. Armed with a little knowledge about how your heart works, you can...
Heart attack, ischemic disease, valvular disease and other terminology refer to the heart when it is sick. A patient can have many symptoms that are indicative of heart disease. According to the National Institute of Health, NIH, heart disease...
With today's awareness about heart disease, most savvy consumers have learned the basics about what they can do to prevent a heart attack. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 652,000 men and women died in 2005...
Heart valve disease describes a disorder in the heart that occurs when at least one of the four heart valves fails to function properly, interfering with the circulation of blood. The four heart valves--the mitral valve, the tricuspid valve, the...
Narrowing of the aortic valve is referred to as aortic stenosis. Caused by the inability of the valve to open normally, the heart has to work harder to pump blood past the narrow valve. This disease is mainly diagnosed using Doppler...
A leaky heart valve can result from genetic factors or from acquired injury to your heart. Common acquired causes of heart valve dysfunction include high blood pressure and heart attacks. While some degree of exercise is important to prevent...
The four valves of the heart--the mitral, aortic, tricuspid and pulmonic--separate the four chambers of the heart. These valves are critical for maintaining the direction of blood flow through the heart, and when working properly, allow the heart...
Fainting, known as syncope, is a brief loss of consciousness from lack of blood flow to the brain that results in a person falling or collapsing. According to the American Heart Association, cardiac, non-cardiac and idiopathic (unknown) causes can...
In essence, the heart is simply a pump that forces fluid through a series of pipes. The pipes are the body's arteries and veins, and the fluid is blood. All systems of pumps and pipes must have valves to control the direction that fluid flows...
The heart is a four chambered pump. The right side delivers blood to the lungs for oxygenation after receiving it from the rest of the body, and the left side receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and delivers it to the body. There are four...
Congenital heart disease involves one or more structural defects of the heart or blood vessels, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It occurs before birth as a fetus develops. Congenital heart disease affects approximately eight to 10 out of every...
The tricuspid valve, mitral valve, pulmonic valve and aortic valve comprise the four valves in the heart that control the flow of blood from the upper heart chambers to the lower heart chambers, as well as to the lungs and the body. Complications...
Newborn heart problems are more common than you would expect. According to the American Heart Association, nine out of every 1,000 babies in the United States are born with a congenital heart defect. Although most congenital heart defects are...
Endocarditis is an inflammation of the endocardium, the inner layer of the heart, including the heart valves. Learn more about endocarditic in this health video.
