Mitral Valve regurgitation is a heart ailment where the blood backflows through the mitral valve. A Mitral valve is a one-way valve that allows the transfer of the blood from the auricles to the ventricles. If the valve allows the bidirectional flow of blood, then it leads to a number of complications. One such complication of mitral regurgitation is shortness of breath. The reasons why such an ailment leads to shortness of breath are as under.
Mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood
As stated earlier, the mitral valve allows for the unidirectional flow of blood from the auricles and the ventricles. These two chambers differentiate between the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. The oxygenated blood is collected from the lungs and transported to the heart. From the heart, it is transported to different organs of the body. The deoxygenated blood is collected from the muscles of different organs and transported to the heart. These oxygenated and deoxygenated blood is stored in different chambers of the heart separated by these valves. If these valves allow the bidirectional flow of blood, it will lead to mixing the two kinds of blood. As a result, lesser oxygen will be transported to the muscles. Since the muscles’ oxygen needs increase, the patient will need to breathe in more oxygen, resulting in shortness of breath.
Reduction in blood pressure for transporting oxygen to different organs
The heart is the primary organ to pump oxygenated blood to different organs of the body. A part of this blood pressure is due to the unidirectional flow of the blood maintained by the heart. However, if blood flows bidirectionally in between the heart’s chambers, it will reduce blood pressure, as a result of which, blood takes more time to reach the distant muscles. The muscle’s need for oxygen is not fulfilled, resulting in the need for more oxygen intake through the respiratory system. Such a condition leads to shortness of breath.
Associated symptoms
Since Mitral Valve regurgitation leads to reduced oxygen transport to different body organs, it is also associated with related symptoms. The patient feels fatigued and tired most of the time. The shortness of breath is pronounced when the patient is lying down or is metabolically active. It can also lead to an abnormal heartbeat.
If you feel that you are suffering from any of these symptoms, it can be a case of mitral valve regurgitation. It would help if you visited a cardiologist at once.