Cardiovascular Institute

Heart valve disease is a disease in which one or more of your heart valves don't work properly. Birth defects, age-related changes, infections or other conditions can cause one or more of your heart valves to not open fully or to let blood leak back into the heart chambers. This can make your heart work harder and affect its ability to pump blood. If not treated, advanced heart valve disease can cause heart failure, stroke, blood clots or sudden death due to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). While lifestyle changes and medicine can help manage valvular heart disease, you may eventually need to have your faulty heart valve repaired or replaced.

Our surgeons have been at the forefront of pioneering techniques and technologies in valve care, from performing Pennsylvania’s first heart-valve replacement to tackling complicated procedures such as aortic root replacement to inventing the revolutionary sutureless valve.

Learn more about Valvular Heart Disease in our Health Library.