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From: werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Mitral valve info request
Message-ID: <2170@aecom.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Jan-86 12:33:49 EST
Article-I.D.: aecom.2170
Posted: Thu Jan  9 12:33:49 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Jan-86 05:44:50 EST
References: <766@lasspvax.UUCP>
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 28

> I'd like any information anyone can give me on "mitral valve
> prolapse".  What it is, how it affects the functioning of the body,
> what a person with this condition should do and not do (e.g.
> exercise?) -- any information will be appreciated.
> 						Thanks very much -- Scott
> Scott Brim				swb@devvax.tn.cornell.edu

	Unlike the other heart valves, which have  3 parts, the mitral valve
has 2, not to mention the burden of being subjected to regular fluctuations
in pressure of 10mmHg to 120mmHg and back, on the average 80 times a minute,
indefinitely, with absolutely no down time.  As a result, it is an especially
tricky valve.
	With that in mind, it is not suprising that in some people the valves
may not close right and flop around a bit. This is known as 'Floppy Mitral
Valve Syndrome', or 'Mitral Valve Prolapse' or a total of 27 other terms that
a Cardiologist once handed me a list of.
	About a third of all women have the condition to some extent, and it
appears to cause no problem in most of them.  Some people like to worry about
it, but then again, "if it's not one thing, it's another." Some women get
put on Beta-blockers to keep the heart slow just in case, but this raises
the ethical issue of treating healthy, assymptomatic people.  Some people
don't even consider it a disease, just a variant of normal.

-- 

				Craig Werner
				!philabs!aecom!werner
		"The world is just a straight man for you sometimes"