Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article I will talk about calcium deposition in the aortic valve.
The aorta is a very powerful blood vessel that leaves the heart and sends oxygenated blood throughout our body. At the exit from the heart, the aorta has a valve that prevents blood from returning.
In older people, the leaflets of the aortic valve often become hard (sclerosed). Sometimes this valve makes a noise that the doctor can hear with a stethoscope. More often, a dense aortic valve is found by accident with an ultrasound scan or on a tomogram.
A hardened aortic valve will have to be monitored for life, because it can begin to narrow and noticeably block the flow of blood from the heart. From this there is a chance to die.
In people under 60 years of age, sclerosed aortic valves are less common than 10% of cases. But after 75 years - already every second.
This is more common in people with high blood pressure and signs of thickening of the heart muscle.
What does calcium have to do with it?
Everything here is very similar to the deposition of calcium in atherosclerotic plaques. We have already discussed this separately. You can read the link below.
Some fats settle on the aortic valve, then inflammation begins in this place and calcium is tightened.
Damage
Here there really can be mechanical damage. If all these stories about holes in blood vessels that are plugged with cholesterol do not stand up to criticism, then in the case of the aortic valve there may well be mechanical damage.
The fact is that the aortic valve all our life flaps under the pressure of blood like an open window during a thunderstorm. It is clear that he can hurt himself.
If the heart has to pump blood to fight high blood pressure, the valve suffers even more.
Everything is aggravated by about the same things as with atherosclerosis:
- smoking;
- pressure;
- cholesterol;
- diabetes;
- obesity.
What will come of it
If there is no narrowing of the valve, then this will not manifest itself. The doctor can hear something with his ear. Calcification of the aortic valve itself does not interfere too much. The risk of death from a stroke or heart attack simply increases.
It's like a stigma or a curse. Cardiologists are still not sure why people with a calcified aortic valve die.
It is suspected that this is just a marker of something bad that is happening in the heart and blood vessels. If calcification of the aortic valve appears, then some atherosclerosis also blooms in other places.
If you have found calcification of the aortic valve, then this is about the same as if you found a hefty atherosclerotic plaque somewhere in the artery. That is, you need to urgently take up your mind, control pressure, monitor cholesterol and quit smoking.
Calcium Supplements
In normal doses, there is no harm from them. Therefore, if a person took his 1000 mg of calcium per day, then let him continue to take it. It will be more harmful if you sharply limit calcium. We always have calcium in our blood. We will die without him.
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