MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Heather Thompson, 45 of Uniontown, PA, first started having heart palpitations when she was pregnant 15 years ago.
Her doctors discovered that she had a mitral valve prolapse, a congenital condition which occurs when the leaflets in the valve of the heart become floppy or do not properly close, allowing blood to flow back into the heart. Symptoms of mitral valve prolapse may include abnormal heartbeats with palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath, and fatigue. Though the condition was not caused by her pregnancy, it required frequent monitoring to determine if a valve surgery was necessary.
Heather and her doctors in Uniontown watched her condition closely over the years, and when her symptoms started to come on more strongly, with severe palpitations and shortness of breath, she talked to her cardiologist, who ordered more tests and referred her to David Schwartzman, M.D., WVU Heart and Vascular Institute Electrophysiology director.
“I was able to see Dr. Schwartzman here at the Uniontown clinic and he was absolutely wonderful,” Heather said. “He’s very detail oriented and I had a really good experience with him. I’ve never had a physician spend more time with me. The more questions he asked me, the more concerns he started to have about the source of my palpitations.”
Heather’s test results showed that her mitral valve prolapse had developed into mitral annular disjunction, a condition in which the leaflets that form the mitral valve pull away from the mitral annulus, the supportive ring of muscle that surrounds the mitral valve. This can lead to mitral regurgitation, a condition in which blood leaks back into the left atrium during heart contraction. More concerning, mitral annular disjunction, can lead to serious arrhythmias or abnormal heartbeats that can rarely lead to sudden death.
“Mitral valve prolapse is a congenital or degenerative problem that is very, very common,” Vinay Badhwar, M.D., WVU Heart and Vascular Institute executive chair and Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery department chair, said. “Mitral annular disjunction is a rare presentation of mitral valve prolapse that puts more strain on the heart muscle than normal and can lead to potentially serious heart rhythm problems.”
“The symptoms of mitral annular disjunction, which are premature ventricular contractions and leakage of the valve, can be resolved through reattaching the leaflets of the mitral valve to decrease tension on the cords that hold them in place and stabilizing the annulus, which provides support to the valve. This condition is rare in the specialty, but we see more than other facilities because we have a nationally recognized team and dedicated Mitral Valve Center of Excellence with experience in advanced valve disease and robotic approaches to help solve these problems.”
Heather underwent a minimally invasive, robotic repair in May of 2022. While the condition can be repaired using an open-heart approach, robotic surgery has become standard practice at the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute. A robotic approach is performed with smaller incisions and requires a shorter recovery period than an open-heart approach.
“Robotic surgery is a little easier on the patient and may allow for more precision and a clearer view of the anatomy,” Badhwar said.
Since recovering from her mitral valve repair, Heather has been able to get back to the active life she had before.
“At the beginning of this year, I was able to start going to spin classes again and I’ve been doing that regularly. I did the Summit Challenge in May and was able to climb three and a half miles to the top of the mountain without any issues. These are things I would have never been able to do before my surgery and it has made a big difference.”
“I don’t have the heart palpitations as I did before, and the chest pain and shortness of breath have gone away completely. I’m not fatigued like I was prior to surgery. I’m a dietician at Uniontown Hospital and I start my day early. Before surgery, by the time I got home, I was just really feeling exhausted. It’s been empowering to get back to physical activity. It makes me feel strong.”
Heather emphasized the importance of listening to your body and checking with your doctor if you feel like something is wrong.
“I read that this condition can cause sudden cardiac death and having it repaired could have saved my life,” Heather said. “You have to advocate for yourself when you think something is wrong. I am grateful to have had a group of people at the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute who really listened to me and took my concerns seriously. They really, really listened. I owe my life to my doctors.”
“It feels like divine intervention that this all fell into place for me when Uniontown Hospital joined the WVU Health System because it allowed me to connect with Dr. Schwartzman and Dr. Badhwar. I feel very lucky because Dr. Badhwar is a leader in the field of mitral valve repair and this surgery really did change my life.”