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What is a Prosthetic Valve?
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
A prosthetic valve refers to a valve used in or right outside of the heart to replace an injured, damaged or missing heart valve. There are four places in the heart structure in which prosthetic valves may be used. These are the mitral and tricuspid valves, and the aortic valve (aorta) and pulmonary valve.
Prosthetic valve placement has become quite common and is often considered one of the simpler heart repairs, though these are still serious surgeries. A number of different valve prostheses exist. These include mechanical valves, allograft or human valves, and animal valves. There are pluses and minuses to each type.
One of the principal differences between mechanical and most biological tissue valves is that mechanical valves more accurately replace function. Most of the times, using biological tissue means the valve will provide a conduit, but doesn’t truly function as a well valve would. This is one of the reasons that virtually every mitral valve replacement surgery uses a mechanical valve. It’s necessary for the valve to open and shut accordingly, and this can’t be duplicated with one made of tissue, unless it is a tissue/mechanical hybrid.
In replacing aortic or pulmonary valves, mechanical function may not be as important, and especially in the pulmonary valve there appears a preference for using human tissue valves or those constructed of porcine tissue. These will not last as long as mechanical valves but they have one distinct advantage over them. Any time a mechanical valve is used, anticoagulation, or Coumadin® (warfarin) therapy is required for life. This may affect quality of life and the valve raises risk for stroke, even with warfarin. Tissue valves don’t tend to require warfarin therapy.
Prosthetic valve replacement is quite common in children with congenital heart defects. Children may be born with insufficient, or stenotic (narrowed) valves that will not allow the heart to adequately function. In kids the most common valves replaced are the aortic and pulmonary valves, and again preference might lean toward tissue valves.
One of the things that is of concern in using prosthetic valve replacement in kids is that they will need future replacements. The valve put in today may only last for a few years before the child grows out of it. It’s not uncommon for kids to undergo two to three valve replacements if they have the first one early in life. As adults, need to replace the prosthetic valve will be based more on how the current valve is performing.
Tricia Christensen
Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.
Learn more...
Tricia Christensen
Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.
Learn more...AS FEATURED ON:
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![There are multiple places in the heart where prosthetic valves may be used including the mitral, tricuspid, aortic and pulmonary valve.]()
By: Matthew ColeThere are multiple places in the heart where prosthetic valves may be used including the mitral, tricuspid, aortic and pulmonary valve. -
![Prosthetic valve replacement is common in children with congenital heart defects.]()
By: Patricia MarksProsthetic valve replacement is common in children with congenital heart defects. -
![Patients typically stay in the intensive care unit for at least 24 hours after a prosthetic valve placement.]()
By: Arkady ChubykinPatients typically stay in the intensive care unit for at least 24 hours after a prosthetic valve placement.
Discussion Comments
@croydon - Well, I know people who have had to go on Warfarin, although not for heart valve repair surgery, and they haven't had any symptoms at all, or very mild ones. I know it does affect some people very strongly and I've heard it can be a misery for those people, but there are other options as well.
Mostly I think it can make you bleed badly from cuts that normally wouldn't bleed much, which is basically the same thing that most blood thinners would do.
@browncoat - I actually think that for the most part they have figured out how to make it so that the tissue doesn't appear to be foreign, so they can use it without needing drugs to keep the body from rejecting it. They also sometimes use horse and cow tissue, rather than pig tissue and maybe that's what makes the difference.
With that as an option, it makes using tissue valves when you can much more attractive. I would rather use something where I don't have to worry about taking medication all the time. And Warfarin, which is the drug you have to go on for the prosthetic valve, is notoriously bad for you.
That must be such an incredibly difficult decision to make. Whether to use a prosthetic heart valve and know that you'll be on medication for life, or to use a tissue valve, knowing that they don't work as well and will probably have to be replaced eventually.
I imagine that if you are using a porcine valve or a donated one, you'd have to go on drugs to stop your body from rejecting it anyway.
I guess those options are still better than having none at all. Even a few decades ago people wouldn't even have been given that choice, and would have simply died.
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