Young patient receives care for severe heart murmur

When Hannah, 44, moved to Las Vegas with her family last year, she set about finding new doctors, including a new primary physician.

She met with a new primary care doctor, who at the initial appointment told her she heard a severe heart murmur and that it needed to get it checked out. Hannah had been told in the past, in her old hometown on the East Coast that she had a murmur, but never was told it was severe enough to get it checked out.

Hannah was eventually referred to Dr. Shaheen Chowdhry, a cardiology specialist with expertise in treating heart disease and coronary artery disease. At the appointment Dr. Chowdhry immediately told Hannah she needed an echocardiogram, or echo, which is a scan used to look at the heart and nearby blood vessels. Following the echo, Hannah learned that she had severe mitral valve prolapse, meaning the valve’s flaps do not always fit and close properly between each beat of the hear, causing the valve to leak blood backward through the valve back to the left atrium.

Symptoms of mitral valve prolapse can vary widely from person to person, but symptoms may include a racing heart or irregular heartbeat, dizziness or lightheadedness, shortness of breath especially during exercise or fatigue.

Looking back, Hannah said she did often have bouts of tiredness, but always brushed it off. As a child, she often complained of a heavy feeling on her chest, but was always dismissed.

“I was often tired, but tended to ignore it,” Hannah said. “Once in awhile as a kid I would say it felt like there was an elephant on my chest, but I was ignored. I learned that for me it was a normal feeling and ignored it.”

In fact, before her diagnosis, Hannah kept pushing those feelings and sensations away and had been training for a half marathon.

“They told me to stop training immediately,” she said.

Following the echo, Hannah went to the MountainView Hospital cath lab the following week and afterwards met with Dr. Nauman Jahangir, heart and vascular surgeon with MountainView Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Associates who told her she needed surgery.

Two weeks later, Hannah underwent minimally invasive mitral valve repair at MountainView Hospital, with Dr. Jahangir as the surgeon.

“When I met with Dr. Jahangir he said he was pretty confident that he could do a repair, but that there was always the chance once he was in there it could be too far gone and they’d have to replace rather than repair,” Hannah said.

Luckily, Dr. Jahangir was able to repair the valve.

“We were able to repair the valve via a minimally invasive valve repair via a six-centimeter incision on the right side of the chest without having to do a sternotomy (when an incision is made to split the chest to allow access to the heart),” Dr. Jahangir said. “The valve was repaired without need for replacement.”

The end result is minimal pain, a shorter hospital stay and a quicker return to normal activity, he said.

In the days following surgery, Hannah said she is recovering well and looking forward to resuming her life, maybe even training for that half marathon again. She said that people, especially women, shouldn’t ignore their instincts that something might be wrong.

“Keep listening to your instincts,” she said. “I learned to ignore them over the years. If I hadn’t moved here and had the doctors that I did, then I probably would have ended up in heart failure.”

Dr. Jahangir said the procedure Hannah underwent is one of the many options available to patients needing a medical or surgical intervention for their heart.

“We try to pair the right procedure for each patient and have all surgical and non-surgical options available for the benefit of our patients,” he said.

To learn more about Dr. Jahangir and MountainView Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Associates, please visit MountainView Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Associates.