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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
When your heart is working properly, the mitral valve closes completely during contraction of the left ventricle and prevents blood from flowing back into your heart's upper left chamber (left atrium). But in some people with mitral valve prolapse, the mitral valve's flaps (leaflets) have extra tissue, bulging (prolapsing) like a parachute into their left atrium each time the heart contracts.
The bulging may keep the valve from closing tightly. When blood leaks backward through the valve, it's called mitral valve regurgitation. This may not cause problems if only a small amount of blood leaks back into the atrium. More severe mitral valve regurgitation can cause symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, lightheadedness or a cough.
Another name for mitral valve prolapse is click-murmur syndrome. When a doctor listens to your heart using a stethoscope, he or she may hear a clicking sound as the valve's leaflets billow out, followed by a murmur resulting from blood flowing back into the atrium. Other names to describe mitral valve prolapse include:
- Barlow's syndrome
- Floppy valve syndrome
- Ballooning mitral valve syndrome
- Sorrentino MJ. Definition and diagnosis of mitral valve prolapse. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 28, 2011.
- Mitral valve and mitral valve prolapse. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4717. Accessed Jan. 31, 2011.
- Mitral valve prolapse. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/mvp/mvp_all.html. Accessed Jan. 31, 2011.
- Taub CC, et al. Mitral valve prolapse in Marfan syndrome: An old topic revisited. Echocardiography. 2008;e[#]. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121536695/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0. Accessed Jan. 28, 2011.
- Sorrentino MJ. Arrhythmic complications of mitral valve prolapse. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 28, 2011.
- Sorrentino MJ. Nonarrhythmic complications of mitral valve prolapse. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 28, 2011.
- Nishimura RA. ACC/AHA guideline update on valvular heart disease: Focused update on infective endocarditis. Circulation. 2008;118:887.
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