Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffOne possible way to prevent aortic valve regurgitation is to prevent rheumatic fever. You can do this by making sure you see your doctor when you have a sore throat. Untreated strep throat can develop into rheumatic fever. Fortunately, strep throat is easily treated with antibiotics. Avoiding infections of the blood, including those caused by intravenous drug use, can prevent damage to the aortic valve that leads to aortic valve regurgitation. In addition, taking good care of your teeth helps prevent bloodstream infections that can damage your heart valves.
You may be able to prevent aortic valve regurgitation from high blood pressure by taking care of your cardiovascular system. Getting your blood pressure under control is important because high blood pressure can lead to aortic valve damage and aortic valve regurgitation. High blood pressure can also cause your aorta to stretch out, which pulls the aortic valve leaflets apart and leads to regurgitation.
- Aortic regurgitation. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4448. Accessed July 9, 2009.
- Carabello BA. Valvular heart disease. In: Goldman L, et al., eds. Goldman: Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/148441160-6/860446560/1492/318.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50080-X_3105. Accessed July 9, 2009.
- Ardehali R, et al. Valvular heart disease. In: Nilsson KR, et al. The Osler Medical Handbook. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/148441160-4/860446560/1387/28.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-03748-8..50017-8_181. Accessed July 9, 2009.
- Gaasch WH. Pathophysiology and clinical features of chronic aortic regurgitation in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 9, 2009.
- Gaasch WH. Course and management of chronic aortic regurgitation in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 9, 2009.
- Living with arrhythmia. American Heart Association. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/arr/arr_livingwith.html. Accessed July 9, 2009.
