The Mitral Valve

The mitral valve is located in the left side of the heart, between the left atrium, which receives oxygenated blood from the lungs, and the left ventricle, which pumps oxygenated blood out to the body (Papp; Warkentin 1298). It opens with each heartbeat to allow blood to flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle. The valve is composed of two thin leaflets of tissue that lines the walls of the left ventricle, and they are attached to the muscle of the heart by muscular bands known as chordae (Papp; What). The valve must remain closed when the left ventricle contracts so that blood goes out into the circulation and does not leak back into the left atrium.

When the structures of the mitral valve are weakened, or become stretched abnormally, the valve balloons into the left atrium when the heart contracts, and can cause blood to leak back into the atrium from the ventricle. This ballooning is known as mitral valve prolapse (MVP) (Papp). It is caused by a process known as myxomatous change, or degeneration, which leads to alterations in the structural proteins of the leaflets and chords, and gives them a tendency to bulge under pressure when the v

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