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The Norton Heart & Vascular Institute Structural Heart Program treats conditions that occur from aging, injury or infection. These conditions most often affect the heart valves.
Unlike other forms of heart disease, structural heart disease typically is not caused by smoking, a poor diet or other lifestyle choices that contribute to a buildup of plaque in the blood vessels.
As the heart beats, a precisely timed series of opening and closing of valves keeps blood flowing in the right direction. All four valves — aortic, mitral, tricuspid and pulmonic — need to open wide, then shut tight in rhythm.
Heart valves may not close all the way, causing blood regurgitation, or open sufficiently, causing stenosis. These conditions can develop over time and often don’t need treatment. Sometimes blood thinners can help. Regular monitoring can help prevent structural heart disease from leading to serious complications.
The Norton Heart & Vascular Institute Structural Heart Program brings together the talents of cardiothoracic surgeons, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists and advanced imaging cardiologists to one location at Norton Audubon Hospital. Patients can schedule multiple appointments for one visit and benefit from the collaboration of multiple specialists with their unique viewpoints and experiences. It’s like getting a second or third opinion in one visit.
Barry had a bicuspid aortic valve that was causing his atrial fibrillation. A valve in Barry’s heart that regulates blood flowing out to his body had two flaps instead of three. It’s a condition he inherited and that often goes undetected until adulthood.
Patients are fast-tracked for evaluation, diagnosis and treatment. Those who need surgery or minimally invasive procedures are scheduled within four weeks.
You’ll work closely with your structural heart team and have follow-up appointments with them at Norton Audubon Hospital.
A nurse navigator is dedicated to the Structural Heart Program. This health care professional helps guide you through your care, with assistance such as education on how your condition may affect your life and care. Your navigator can help with insurance, planning aftercare and home-care needs.
Structural heart disease typically strikes the heart valves, either limiting their ability to allow forward blood flow or not closing tightly and allowing backward blood flow.
In the case of mitral regurgitation, heart valves become leaky. The mitral valve is particularly prone to this condition as it regulates the blood flow into the heart’s powerful left ventricle — the last stop before blood is pumped out to the entire body.
If the mitral valve doesn’t close all the way, the pumping action of the left ventricle can send some blood squirting backward. If left untreated, mitral regurgitation can lead to heart failure and arrhythmia.
Another form of structural heart disease is valve stenosis. This describes a valve that has become narrowed or stiff and isn’t allowing enough blood to flow out of the heart to the rest of the body. The result is typically shortness of breath and chest discomfort.
At the Structural Heart Program, experienced interventional cardiologists, surgeons and others have the experience to recognize when your structural heart disease needs treatment and, if so, what kind of treatment is warranted.
Some adults were born with structural heart conditions and need continuing specialized care throughout their lives. Congenital heart disease specialists treat patients who are children, then as they grow into adulthood, adult congenital heart disease specialists take over their unique heart care. The multiple specialists at Norton Children’s Heart Institute have the expertise and skill to care for congenital heart anomalies from birth through adulthood.
Some structural heart conditions never need treatment. Others can be managed with medical therapy, minimally invasive procedures or surgery.
Examples of structural heart conditions include
Increasingly, more structural heart disease patients can be treated with minimally invasive procedures that have them home in a few days.
The Structural Heart Program specialists at Norton Heart & Vascular Institute are at the forefront of applying minimally invasive treatments that thread tiny tools through blood vessels to the diseased valve and make repairs or even replace it. A tiny incision in your groin or an alternative site will allow your physicians to access your blood vessels, and advanced imaging will help them guide a catheter through your blood vessels to the diseased valve.
These innovative treatments are developing rapidly, but some conditions and patients still require open heart surgery.
Norton Heart & Vascular Institute offers advanced care at all of our adult-service hospitals to save hearts and lives.
Norton Heart & Vascular Institute offers patient resources to support you and your family, including free classes for people of all ages who want to improve cardiovascular health or are living with a heart condition.