What is aortic regurgitation?
Aortic regurgitation refers to a leaky aortic valve. With this condition, the leaflets (flaps) of your aortic valve don’t close as tightly as they should. As a result, some blood that should move out of your heart leaks backward each time your heart beats. Aortic regurgitation is a form of heart valve disease that ranges from mild to severe. It requires careful monitoring by a healthcare provider.
Other names for aortic regurgitation include:
- Aortic insufficiency.
- Aortic valve regurgitation.
- Leaky aortic valve.
What happens in aortic insufficiency?
Your aortic valve is the “door” that controls blood flow between your heart and your aorta (the largest artery in your body). With each heartbeat, your heart pumps oxygen-rich blood into your aorta. From there, your blood then travels through many branches to reach your organs and tissues. But to successfully nourish your body, your blood first needs to leave your heart. That’s where your aortic valve comes into play.
Your aortic valve opens to allow blood to travel from the left ventricle of your heart (its main pumping chamber) into your aorta. This happens each time your left ventricle contracts (systole). When your left ventricle relaxes (diastole), your aortic valve closes.
Normally, your aortic valve closes tightly enough to keep blood flowing in the correct direction. However, if you have aortic regurgitation, your valve doesn’t close all the way. This means that each time your left ventricle relaxes, some blood leaks backward into this chamber.
Mild regurgitation may cause no symptoms or problems. But over time, the condition can get worse and lead to volume overload of your left ventricle. That’s because, normally, your left ventricle should only receive blood from your top left heart chamber (left atrium). Your left ventricle is capable of managing this amount of blood. However, a leaky aortic valve causes extra blood to flow into your left ventricle. This makes your left ventricle do more work to manage this extra blood volume.
When the volume overload happens quickly and suddenly, you have acute aortic regurgitation. If the overload happens gradually over time, you have chronic aortic regurgitation. The chronic form is more common in the U.S.
How does a leaky aortic valve affect my body?
Aortic regurgitation forces your heart’s left ventricle to work harder to pump enough blood into your aorta. Over time, this can cause the muscular walls of your left ventricle to thicken (left ventricular hypertrophy). Left ventricular hypertrophy makes your heart less efficient. It can ultimately lead to:
Who does aortic regurgitation affect?
Aortic regurgitation can affect a wide range of people, including those who have:
- Congenital heart disease, especially a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV). A congenital condition is a condition you’re born with. People with BAV often develop a leaky valve between the ages of 20 and 40.
- A calcified aortic valve. People with a calcified aortic valve are usually over age 60 and have mixed valve disease (more than one type of valve problem). In this case, they have aortic stenosis along with some level of regurgitation.
- Previous aortic valve replacement. A bioprosthetic valve may break down over time and not work as it should.
- Rheumatic heart disease. Rheumatic fever causes rheumatic heart disease, which is a leading cause of aortic regurgitation in low- and middle-income nations.
