Warning Signs Of Aortic Stenosis

Heart Palpitations

Heart palpitations occur when an individual experiences disturbances in the normal rhythm and speed of their heartbeat. Aortic valve stenosis patients tend to experience arrhythmias that are tachycardic in nature and irregularities in the pattern of their heartbeat. These abnormal beating patterns occur because the patient's heart has to work very hard to push a sufficient amount of blood out of the aortic valve that does not open entirely. Additionally, left ventricular hypertrophy can induce the same process when the hypertrophic heart cannot pump blood efficiently enough. When the patient's brain senses oxygen is not reaching vital tissues, it induces an increased breathing rate and signals the heart to beat faster. Fast heartbeats can be felt by the tissues and nerves close to the heart that send sensory signals to the brain. This process results in heart palpitations in aortic valve stenosis patients.

Fatigue

Aortic stenosis occurs when the aortic valve opening becomes too narrow, restricting the proper flow of blood. Blood cannot move from the left ventricle to the aorta properly and can produce adverse effects on the left atrium pressure. The aortic valve opening is located between the left ventricle of the heart and the aorta, the large artery responsible for supplying the rest of the body with oxygen-rich blood after it has come back from the lungs. When this opening is too narrow, less blood is flowing into the aorta at any given time. This reduced volume ability causes the tissues around the body to experience a general shortage of oxygen and other nutrients required for the cells to produce energy or ATP. Without enough energy being produced due to the lack of proper oxygen and nutrient supply, the body goes into a compensatory state where the energy produced is redirected to tissues critical for an individual's survival, like the heart and lungs. The redirection of cellular energy and the volume reduction of oxygenated blood in circulation is what causes an affected individual to experience fatigue.