Valvuloplasty is performed, in certain circumstances, to open a stenotic (stiff) heart valve.
Valves of the heart
The heart is a pump made of muscle tissue. The heart has four pumping chambers: two upper chambers, called atria, and two lower chambers, called ventricles. The right atrium pumps blood into the right ventricle, which then pumps the blood into the lungs where carbon dioxide is given off and oxygen is taken into the blood.
From the lungs, the blood flows back into the left atrium, is pumped into the left ventricle, and then is pumped through the aorta out to the rest of the body and the coronary arteries. When the atria are pumping, the ventricles are relaxed in order to receive the blood from the atria. Once the atria have pumped their entire blood load into the ventricles, they relax while the ventricles pump the blood out to the lungs and to the rest of the body.
In order to keep the blood flowing forward during its journey through the heart, there are valves between each of the heart’s pumping chambers:
Tricuspid valve – located between the right atrium and the right ventricle
Pulmonary (or pulmonic) valve – located between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery
Mitral valve – located between the left atrium and the left ventricle
Aortic valve – located between the left ventricle and the aorta
If the heart valves become damaged or diseased, they may not function properly. Conditions that may cause dysfunction of heart valves are valvular stenosis and valvular insufficiency (regurgitation). When one (or more) valve(s) becomes stenotic (stiff), the heart muscle must work harder to pump the blood through the valve.
Mitral regurgitation (MR) is a condition in which the heart’s mitral valve leaflets do not close tightly. When this happens, blood flows backward from the heart’s left ventricle into the left atrium. The heart must then work harder to push blood through the body, which can cause fatigue, shortness of breath and worsening heart failure. It is the most common type of heart valve insufficiency.
A coronary angioplasty is a procedure used to widen blocked or narrowed coronary arteries.
A coronary angioplasty is a procedure used to widen blocked or narrowed coronary arteries.
It is perfectly normal for a woman to want to improve her body, especially after a pregnancy and birth or a surgery. The way we feel about our body and appearance is of major importance, key to the boost of self-confidence and good mood. There are solutions with which you can correct any kind of imperfection questioning the femininity of a woman, and achieve the desired appearance.
More about Cardiology
It is perfectly normal for a woman to want to improve her body, especially after a pregnancy and birth or a surgery. The way we feel about our body and appearance is of major importance, key to the boost of self-confidence and good mood. There are solutions with which you can correct any kind of imperfection questioning the femininity of a woman, and achieve the desired appearance.
More than 600,000 knee-replacement surgeries are done in the United States every year, and as Baby Boomers continue to age, some say that figure will grow to 1 million within the next decade. Patients are increasingly choosing an option that allows doctors to build their patient’s knees.
Less than a year ago, climbing a flight of stairs would have been impossible for Amanda Fair-Evans. “I couldn’t even get out of the car, and I was like, ‘What is this?’” Fair-Evans said. The pain in her left knee was unbearable. Fair-Evans tried medication and cortisone shots and finally begged her doctor for surgery. “I have no quality of life,” Fair-Evans recalled saying. “I have grandkids and I want to play with my grandkids. Please give me a new knee.”
Dr. Mathew Pombo, an orthopedic surgeon, felt Fair-Evans would be a great candidate for a personalized replacement knee. A standing CT scan of a patient’s leg captures the alignment, followed by a three-dimensional printing process. “We can input components into the computer and print off a specific femur and a specific tibia that fits the bone perfectly,” Pombo said. It takes about six weeks for a medical company to create the custom knee. During surgery, doctors remove the damaged joint. Then, using individually designed tools, surgeons insert the new joint and cement it in. “It’s basically like putting a train on perfectly aligned train tracks,” Pombo said. “It should wear better.”
Five months later, Fair-Evans had her other knee replaced. Now she’s back to the things she loves to do. “(I’m) taking long walks, playing with my grandkids and dancing,” Fair-Evans said. “I haven’t danced in a long time.” Pombo said there is a faster recovery, less blood loss and easier range of motion when patients have the personalized 3D knee surgery.
Despite being one of the most common procedures in plastic surgery, rhinoplasty remains one of the most technically demanding.
Georgette Greene has an active lifestyle and works out at least five times a week. But six years ago, the Campbell resident realized she could no longer do a squat. She exercised even harder and lost weight. “That helped for a little while,” she said. “But from there my knees got progressively worse.” Today the 57-year-old Greene lies in a hospital bed for the first time since having her daughter— now seated by her side — 31 years ago. She’s about to undergo total knee replacement surgery.
The decrease in postsurgical nasal edema following rhinoplasty was found to be highly accurate using three-dimensional morphometric assessment, according to a study in the December edition of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
