When your aortic valve is too narrow, it causes an obstruction of blood flow. This is known as aortic stenosis, a problematic condition for the wellbeing of men. Usually, your blood passes from the left ventricle of your heart (or the left lower chamber), going through your aortic valve and into your aorta, which is the main artery of your body. However, when this valve becomes stenosed, or narrowed, less blood is able to flow through it and so your heart has to go like the clappers in order to pump enough blood to the rest of your body.
So that’s aortic stenosis, but whose wellness does it threaten? The condition is more common in men and, though it can be present at birth, it is most likely to occur in the elderly. When young people from developed countries do develop aortic stenosis, more often than not this is caused by a congenital heart abnormality. Rheumatic fever used to be a common cause of aortic stenosis, but now, in older people, it’s commonly caused by a build-up of calcium deposits on your aortic valve.
If you have a mild case of aortic stenosis, you may not even notice any symptoms at all, or you may have one, mild symptom, such as tiredness. Other symptoms may include chest pain and/or breathlessness during exertion, palpitations, dizziness and fainting, especially during exertion, if the stenosis is greater. You may even develop heart failure, which causes other symptoms such as tiredness, breathlessness and fluid retention in your legs.
If you have a streptococcal infection, this can increase your risk of rheumatic fever which, in turn, can cause aortic stenosis. To prevent either of the latter conditions from developing, it’s important to treat streptococcal infections with antibiotics. If you do develop aortic stenosis, you may find that you are advised to take antibiotics before some invasive investigations (such as bladder cystoscopy) and surgical procedures. These may take place to reduce your risk of heart valve infection, which is known as endocarditis, to widen your valve or to replace it altogether. Aortic valve stenosis is the most common heart valve disorder in the UK that requires valve replacement.
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