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"What Do Calcified Heart Valves Look Like?" Asks Tanya

By Adam Pick on July 6, 2010

I just received an interesting question from Tanya about calcified heart valve leaflets.

Tanya writes, "Dear Adam - I am hoping you can help me better understand my diagnosis of mitral stenosis. The doctor mentioned that I am moderate-to-severe and could be facing surgery soon. The cardiologist also said that my valve may be calcified. I'm curious.... Do you have any pictures of a calcified valve? Thanks! Tanya"

Calcified Mitral Valve

Like Tanya, I also wanted to know what a calcified heart valve looked like when I was diagnosed with aortic stenosis - prior to my heart valve replacement surgery. That said, I did locate the following pictures of a mitral valve and an aortic valve that are both calcified.

The above picture shows a mitral valve in which the two mitral valve leaflets are severely calcified. The picture below shows an aortic valve in which all three leaflets are calcified.

Calcified Aortic Valve

I hope this helps Tanya (and all of us) learn a little bit more about heart valves that suffer from calcified leaflets. As they say, "A picture is worth a 1,000 words."

Keep on tickin!
Adam

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Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

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