Mitral Valve Prolapse: What To Know About It

One of the things I would often ask about mitral valve prolapse is: Is it congenital or acquired? How come symptoms of this comes late in adulthood?

What Mitral Valve Prolapse Is

Also known as Barlowe’s syndrome, mitral valve prolapse is a type of heart valve disease in which the flaps of the mitral valve becomes enlarged or stretched and these flaps bulge into the left atrium as the heart contracts with each heartbeat. (Source: “Mitral Valve Prolapse” from Penn Medicine; https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/conditions-treated-a-to-z/mitral-valve-prolapse#:~:text=Mitral%20valve%20prolapse%2C%20also%20known,heart%20contracts%20with%20each%20heartbeat.)

When a mitral valve becomes prolapsed, it means that the valve’s flaps doesn’t always fit and close properly, between each heartbeat, causing it to leak blood backward through the valve back to the left atrium.

Mitral valve prolapse is said to be present at birth and its prevalence is studied in 1734 consecutive new borns without any congenital structural heart disease. (Source: “Is Mitral Valve Prolapse A Congenital Or Acquired Disease?” by R Nascimento, A Freitas, F Teixeira, … from National Library of Medicine; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9193034/)

Other names of mitral valve prolapse are: click-murmur syndrome, Barlowe syndrome, balloon mitral valve, or flappy valve syndrome. Mitral valve prolapse is also said to occur in around 3% of the population. (Source: “Mitral Valve Prolapse” from John Hopkins Medicine; https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/mitral-valve-prolapse).

Though the cause of mitral valve is unknown, this condition is thought to be linked to heredity. Mitral valve prolapse is known to be asymptomatic (showing little or no symptoms at all) , however, here are common symptoms of MVP:

• Palpitations

• Chest pain

• Racing heartbeat (arrhythmia)

• Light-headedness

• Fatigue