Manhattan Cardiology’s Founder and Cardiologist, Dr. Robert Segal speaks to Hollywood Life With Bonnie Faller on Why FloppyValve Syndrome Killed Carol Barr Even though It’s ‘Not Usually’ Fatal.
“Mitral valve prolapse can make the heart susceptible to cardiac arrhythmias which can cause sudden cardiac death. In patients with mitral valve prolapse, the sudden cardiac death has been linked to ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia, life-threatening arrhythmias. However, the relation between mitral valve prolapse and sudden cardiac death is uncertain. Consistent with a causative role for mitral valve prolapse is the observation that mitral valve prolapse is the only cardiac abnormality in some patients at autopsy and in certain survivors of sudden cardiac death.
Mitral valve prolapse is a condition in which the valve flaps of the heart’s mitral valve don’t close correctly, instead of bulging into the left atrium. The defective mitral valve is unable to control blood flow, and as a result, the blood regurgitates back into the chamber it left from (the left atrium), as a condition called mitral regurgitation (MR). Complications include infective endocarditis and arrhythmias. The diagnosis of mitral valve prolapse is suspected on physical examination and confirmed by echocardiography.”
View the original piece placement on Hollywood Life With Bonnie Faller.
