Living With Heart Failure
If you have heart failure, you know how this disease
may affect your quality of life. Simple daily activities like preparing meals, visiting with friends, or even moving from room to room can require major effort on your part. More than 5 million people suffer from heart failure in the U.S. alone and the number is growing rapidly.

People with heart failure frequently develop problems with the mitral valve in the heart. The heart has four valves which open and close to keep blood flowing in the proper direction. The mitral valve connects the heart’s upper-left chamber (atrium) to the heart’s lower-left chamber (ventricle). Mitral valve regurgitation, or mitral regurgitation, is a condition in which the mitral valve doesn’t close tightly, allowing blood to flow backward from the heart. When the mitral valve doesn’t function properly, blood can’t move forward through the heart or to the rest of the body as efficiently. Mitral valve regurgitation is also called mitral insufficiency,
or incompetence.