Heart Valve Disease

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Duke experts use advanced techniques to detect and treat problems with one or more of your heart’s four valves. We carefully evaluate your heart valve to determine if you will benefit from valve repair or valve replacement surgery. When needed, we use the latest imaging methods as well as traditional surgery and minimally invasive procedural options to help your heart function at its best.

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About Heart Valve Disease

Heart valve disease disrupts the flow of blood through your heart in two ways:

Regurgitation means blood leaks backward through the valve because it does not close completely. This allows too much blood to remain in the heart.
Stenosis means the flaps that open and close the valve have thickened or stiffened. This shrinks the valve opening and requires the heart to pump harder to circulate blood.

Without treatment, heart valve disease can lead to heart failure, stroke, arrhythmia, and other serious problems.

Heart Valve Diseases We Treat

Aortic Valve Disease

Aortic regurgitation / aortic valve regurgitation
Aortic stenosis / aortic valve stenosis

Mitral Valve Disease

Mitral valve prolapse
Mitral regurgitation / mitral valve regurgitation
Mitral stenosis / mitral valve stenosis

Tricuspid Valve Disease

Tricuspid atresia
Tricuspid regurgitation / tricuspid valve regurgitation
Tricuspid stenosis / tricuspid valve stenosis

Pulmonary Valve Disease (usually related to a congenital heart condition)

Pulmonary atresia
Pulmonary regurgitation / pulmonary valve regurgitation
Pulmonary stenosis / pulmonary valve stenosis

Our Locations

Duke Health offers locations throughout the Triangle. Find one near you.

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Nonsurgical Treatments

Routine Monitoring
If your heart valve disease is mild and not causing symptoms, your best option may be to watch for disease progression with routine echocardiograms (ultrasounds of the heart).

Medications
Medicines can ease symptoms and/or help treat the underlying cause of certain types of heart valve disease.

Procedures

Duke’s team of heart valve specialists offers every available procedural option to repair or replace diseased heart valves. This includes traditional open heart surgery as well as newer minimally invasive approaches and transcatheter procedures that are only performed at highly specialized centers. Duke is one of the few hospitals offering the latest transcatheter valve procedures to treat both valvular stenosis and valvular regurgitation. Whenever possible, we consider a minimally invasive surgical approach to reduce risk and speed your recovery.

Heart Valve Repair
Traditional open surgery or minimally invasive surgery to remodel valve tissue can help your valve work more effectively. For valve regurgitation, inserting small rings can enlarge the valve opening.

When possible, heart valve repair is often preferred over replacement because repairs may last longer, have a lower risk of infection, and may not require blood thinners.

Heart Valve Replacement
For more advanced disease, your defective valve may need to be removed and replaced with a biologic (made of human or animal tissue) or mechanical valve.

Heart valve repair or replacement may be combined with other procedures like coronary artery bypass grafting to treat related heart problems.

Call for an Appointment

855-855-6484

Why Choose Duke

Award-Winning Heart Valve Surgery Program
In 2024, Healthgrades named Duke University Hospital one of “America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery” for superior surgical outcomes that include heart valve surgery. In addition, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons awarded Duke University Hospital a three-star rating, the highest available, for aortic valve replacement and mitral valve repair/replacement procedures. This designation means Duke’s outcomes are better than average.

Team Approach to Care
Heart valve disease is a complex condition that requires thorough and comprehensive care. At Duke, you will be managed by a team of doctors with specialized training in heart valve disease diagnosis, imaging, and treatment. This team includes cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists, cardiac imaging specialists, radiologists, and others. Their collaboration means you benefit from the collective expertise of a group of heart specialists with decades of experience.

Valve Coordinator Guides You
Our valve coordinators are your one-stop shop for scheduling appointments, coordinating your visits, communicating your test results, and planning your surgery. It’s their job to make your treatment journey easier, and they answer your questions along the way.

Top-Tier Imaging Capabilities
High-quality cardiac imaging methods help your doctors assess disease severity, increase surgical accuracy, determine the best timing for a valve procedure, and deliver thorough follow-up care. Duke offers the full range of heart imaging methods, including transesophageal echocardiography (TEE); 2D, 3D, and intracardiac echocardiography; complex CT imaging; and cardiac MRI. In addition, we use fusion imaging technology to combine images for better diagnostic capability and procedural guidance.

Leader in Heart Valve Surgery Research
Our researchers strive to improve the care of people with heart valve disease. In addition to maintaining an internal heart valve surgery database, Duke experts participate in and lead clinical studies evaluating new and better treatments.

Heart Failure Care
It’s common for people to have heart valve disease and heart failure. Duke’s heart failure program is one of the best in the country. Because our heart valve providers work closely with heart failure specialists, you’re in good hands if you also need heart failure care.

Best Heart Hospital in North Carolina

When it comes to your heart care, you want the very best. Duke University Hospital is proud of our team and the exceptional care they provide. They are why our cardiology and heart surgery program is nationally ranked, and the highest-ranked program in North Carolina, according to U.S. News & World Report for 2024–2025.

This page was medically reviewed on 09/17/2024 by

Sreekanth Vemulapalli, MD | Cardiologist