St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center

Aortic Valve Disease

What is Aortic Valve Disease?

Aortic valve disease is a condition in which the valve between the left ventricle (main pumping chamber) of the heart and the aorta (main artery) to the body doesn’t work properly. Aortic valve disease sometimes may be present at birth or may result from other causes over time.

The two types of aortic valve disease include:

  • Aortic stenosis is a condition in which the aortic valve opening is narrowed, which keeps the aortic valve from opening fully. This reduces blood flow from the heart to the aorta, making the heart need to work harder to push blood through the narrowed aortic valve, causing the heart muscle to thicken. This is the most common valvular problem as a person ages. Sometimes this can occur in middle age if someone is born with two leaflets (bicuspid aortic valve).
  • Aortic regurgitation (leakage) happens when the aortic valve doesn’t close properly, causing blood to flow backward into the left ventricle. Regurgitation may occur because of floppy leaflets (prolapse), abnormal congenitally deformed valves (bicuspid or unicuspid), infection of the valve (endocarditis), inability of the leaflets to close tightly due to dilatation of the aorta (aneurysm), holes in the leaflets, or rheumatic valve disease.
Treat Aortic Valve Disease at the Center for Advanced Cardiac Surgery

The Center for Advanced Cardiac Surgery is one of the fastest growing centers in the New England region for the treatment of aortic valve disease. Our senior cardiac surgeons work side-by-side with St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center’s cardiology team to provide integrated, coordinated care for our patients. In addition to providing high quality care, our multidisciplinary teams are experts in diagnosing and treating various aortic valve diseases.

Offering innovative surgical procedures, which can improve patient outcomes and reduce recovery times, is paramount at the Center for Advanced Cardiac Surgery. Depending on a patient’s treatment plan, we are among select Boston hospitals to perform transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surgery. When open surgery is necessary, we also offer the widest range of less invasive options.

Meet with a Cardiology doctor within 1 week

To learn more about how we can help you, contact us. We’ll return your call the same day and can secure you an appointment with one of our doctors within the week.

Call 617.789.2045 to request an appointment.