If you have minimal or no symptoms associated with your tricuspid valve regurgitation, your doctor may not recommend any type of treatment. If underlying conditions contribute to swelling or your condition progresses, treatment may be needed.
If your tricuspid valve regurgitation progresses to become more serious, your heart will weaken. You are also at risk for atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder, and heart failure. In this case, your doctor may recommend surgery to repair or replace the tricuspid valve. The team of clinicians at UK HealthCare’s structural heart program has the experience and technology to treat your condition safely and effectively.
If underlying conditions, such as emphysema and pulmonary stenosis, are contributing to swelling, your doctor may treat those conditions with medicine. Diuretics, which increase urine output, are often very effective to minimize this type of swelling in patients with valvular heart disease.
Tricuspid valve repair is usually a minimally invasive heart surgery. During the procedure, the surgeon repairs the tricuspid valve with one of these methods:
- Ring annuloplasty, a procedure that tightens the valve when a surgeon sews a metal, cloth or tissue ring around the valve.
- Commissurotomy, a procedure that opens a narrowed tricuspid valve by either cutting or separating closed valve flaps.
- Valve flap repair, a procedure that involves patching or reshaping the valve flaps.
Tricuspid valve replacement is often done at the same time as another procedure during open-heart surgery. If tricuspid valve replacement is the only procedure being performed, doctors may use minimally invasive techniques to remove the tricuspid valve and replace it. They will replace it with either a mechanical (man-made) valve or a biologic valve that is made of human, cow or pig tissue. UK Gill Heart & Vascular Institute includes the only group in Lexington that offers transcatheter tricuspid valve replacements.
