This is a unique clinic that specializes in patients suffering from a harm to one or more cardiac valves, which provides an answer to them. The clinic has patients with valve problems and patients following a valve correction or replacement surgery. Progressive valve diseases cause structural and functional changes of the heart and might cause a decrease in the general level of function, cardiac insufficiency, arrhythmias, pulmonary hypertension, a disruption of liver function and edemas. This is a unique patient population which requires constant care of experts in this field, whose job it is to determine the correct medicinal treatment, the need and the timing for a surgical solution or catheterization.
The tests are conducted by the clinic doctors, who are proficient in reading echocardiography, which is the primary test tool for the re-evaluation of patients suffering from valve diseases. Patients who underwent valve surgeries receive guidance from the staff about dealing with an artificial valve. This includes treatment with anti-clot medicines.
Echocardiography is the most important test to follow up on these patients and therefore, when visiting the valve clinic, the patient undergo an echocardiography test, as part of the followup.
Treatment designations for valve diseases include:
- Determining the severity of the harm to the valve function which causes a harm of the heart function in general.
- Matching treatment to the symptoms and recommending a treatment that might slow the progress of the disease.
- Determining the need and the date for intervention (either surgical or catheterization).
- Treatment with anti-clots, heart failure and secondary arrhythmias for the valve disease (in cooperation with the arrhythmia unit and the hematological institute).
- Recommendation of preventive care for the development of valve infections.
The valve clinic staff and the entire cardiology unit handle research which aims to study and understand processes that happen in certain valve diseases, such as stenosis of the aortic valve.
