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Summary
Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) occurs when one of your heart's valves doesn't work properly. The flaps of the valve are "floppy" and don't close tightly. Most people who have the condition are born with it. It also tends to run in families.
Most of the time, MVP doesn't cause any problems. Rarely, blood can leak the wrong way through the floppy valve. This can cause:
- Palpitations (feelings that your heart is skipping a beat, fluttering, or beating too hard or too fast)
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Fatigue, dizziness, or anxiety
- Migraine headaches
- Chest discomfort
Most people who have mitral valve prolapse (MVP) don't need treatment because they don't have symptoms and complications. If you need treatment for MVP, medicines can help relieve symptoms or prevent complications. Very few people will need surgery to repair or replace the mitral valve.
MVP puts you at risk for infective endocarditis, a kind of heart infection. To prevent it, doctors used to prescribe antibiotics before dental work or certain surgeries. Now, only people at high risk of endocarditis need the antibiotics.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Diagnosis and Tests
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Heart Health Tests: MedlinePlus Health Topic
(National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
Related Issues
- Problem: Mitral Valve Regurgitation (American Heart Association)
Clinical Trials
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ClinicalTrials.gov: Mitral Valve Prolapse
(National Institutes of Health)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
Reference Desk
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How the Heart Works
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish
Children
- Mitral Valve Prolapse (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Patient Handouts
- Mitral valve prolapse (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Mitral valve surgery - minimally invasive (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Mitral valve surgery - open (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish