The following symptoms and complaints may indicate heart vitias (heart valve defects):
Aoten valve
Aortic stenosis
- Usually symptom-free for a long time
- Limited performance
- Fatigue
- Dyspnea (shortness of breath)
- Angina pectoris (“chest tightness”; sudden pain in the region of the heart)
- Dizziness
- Syncope (momentary loss of consciousness)
Aortic insufficiency
- Palpitations (heart palpitations, heart stuttering)
- Cardiac arrhythmias, unspecified
- Reduction in performance
- Syncope (momentary loss of consciousness)
- Angina pectoris (“chest tightness”; sudden onset of pain in the heart area).
- Pulmonary edema – accumulation of water in the lungs.
- Nail symptoms in severe and chronic aortic insufficiency: Quincke pulse – alternative flushing and paling of the nail bed.
Mitral valve
Mitral stenosis
- Dyspnea (shortness of breath)
- Nocturnal cough
- Hemoptysis (coughing up blood)
- Venous congestion of the neck
- Reddish-cyanotic cheeks (facies mitralis: reddish-purple/bluish discoloration of the cheeks with lip cyanosis as an expression of peripheral oxygen deficit).
Mitral regurgitation (MI)
- Symptoms usually appear very late
- Dyspnea (shortness of breath)
- Palpitations (palpitations, heart palpitations) – especially in left lateral position.
- Nocturnal cough
- Pulmonary edema – accumulation of water in the lungs.
Mitral Prolapse
- Asymptomatic in circa 90% of affected individuals
- Palpitations (palpitations, heart palpitations).
- Cardiac arrhythmias such as (supra-)ventricular extrasystoles, –tachycardia, WPW syndrome (Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome; cardiac arrhythmia triggered by an electrically circular excitation (circus movement) between the atria and the ventricles).
- Syncope (brief loss of consciousness).
- Dyspnea (shortness of breath)
- Limited performance
- Fatigue
- Angina pectoris (“chest tightness”; sudden onset of pain in the heart area).
- Anxiety
Differentiation between cyanotic from azyanotic valvular heart disease (HKF)
| Cyanotic HKF | Azyanotic HKF |
| Fallot’s tetralogy | Aortic valve stenosis |
| Pulmonary atresia | Aortic isthmus stenosis |
| Tricuspid atresia | Pulmonary stenosis |
| Univentricular heart | Atrial septal defect |
| Ventricular septal defect | |
| Persistent ductus arteriosus botalli (PDA). |
