As a patient, you are a part of our team. We think it is important for you to know what to expect before, during and after your surgery. We believe that when you know what to expect you will not worry as much, and you will recover better from your surgery.
About the Heart
Your heart is a muscle that pumps blood through your body. The blood moves through four chambers in the normal heart, the atria that collect blood and the ventricles that pump blood. The blood comes back to the right side of the heart from the body is low in oxygen. The right side of the heart moves the blood through two chambers, the right atrium and the right ventricle, to get the blood into the lungs, where the blood will again be filled with oxygen. The blood then goes through the left atrium into the left ventricle, which pumps the oxygen-rich blood back into the body. Heart valves can be abnormally formed from birth or can be damaged by rheumatic fever, bacterial infection and calcific degeneration, which may just be due to aging. The two most common types of valve disease are:
Your heart has four valves that open in sequence to allow blood to move through the heart chambers and to prevent blood from leaking backward. The two valves on the right side of the heart are the tricuspid valve, which connects the right atrium to the right ventricle, and the pulmonary valve, which connects the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery, which delivers blood to the lungs. The two valves on the left side of the heart are the mitral valve, which connects the left atrium to the left ventricle, and the aortic valve, which connects the left ventricle to the aorta, which delivers blood to the body.
When the oxygen-rich blood comes out of the left ventricle into the aorta, the first artery branches from the aorta are the coronary arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood. Disease of these coronary arteries remains the primary cause of death in this country.
Coronary arteries can become diseased for several reasons. One important cause is the build-up of atherosclerotic plaques in the arteries that block the flow of blood to the heart muscle. Plaque is largely composed of cholesterol, a fatlike substance in the blood, that accumulates to form the plaques that hinder the flow of blood. When blood flow to the heart muscle is significantly decreased by these plaques, patients can experience chest pain, called angina pectoris. If the artery becomes totally blocked, the patient may suffer a heart attack, called a myocardial infarction. Factors which contribute to this cholesterol build-up include smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, lack of exercise and genetic traits inherited from your parents.
Leaking
This is also called regurgitation, which results when a valve doesn’t close completely, allowing blood to flow backwards through the valve.
Interpreter services 
Patients who have limited English proficiency or are deaf or hard of hearing can have a medical interpreter at no cost. Learn about our Medical Interpreter Services.
