I have been diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve and a discrete stenosis under the valve at 11 years old. I am now 25. My cardiologist told me I might need a valve replacement a 70. Can people actually live long with that condition? I don't understand it. And he only wants me to have an ultrasound every 3 years because nothing has changed in the past 10 years. Can my condition change in a short time? At a dangerous level? I have bad anxiety because of this.
The mitral valve between the left atrium and left ventricle only has two cusps and it works fine. Since the valve going into the left ventricle has two valves, it stands to reason that a similar valve going out of the left ventricle would function similarly if it was the same size and shape. The number of cusps is not entirely related to how well the valve functions. In your case, the opening of the aortic valve is slightly smaller than normal, but clearly capable of passing an adequate amount of blood. The stenosis alone may be the only problem caused by the valve. The stenosis you have likely creates some back pressure when the left ventricle contracts. The heart compensates partly for the back pressure but this prolonged compensation wears on the heart valve a little more than normal. So, you end up with a heart that more or less functions normally but the back pressure and compensation cause the heart valve to wear out faster than normal. Its a gradual effect. The type of damage done from this circumstance is not something that changes rapidly. Evaluating the condition every three years is still probably a very cautious approach and its not certain that the stenosis will ever become a significant problem even if you live well beyond 70 years.
