Mitral valve replacement gradually to regain strength. Patients who have physically demanding jobs will have to wait a little longer than those who don’t. Patients are also restricted from driving a car for six weeks after the surgery. Once a person has a mitral valve procedure, they are required to have prophylactic antibiotics as a preventative measure against infection whenever they have dental work done. Some scarring occurs after surgery. For median sternotomy (access through the sternum, or breastbone), the patient will have a vertical scar on the anterior chest above the sternum. If the heart is accessed from under the left breast
Mitral valve a rapid flow of blood from the left atrium, across the mitral valve. This early filling across the mitral valve is seen on doppler echocardiography of the mitral valve as the "E wave". After the E wave, there is a period of slow filling of the ventricle. Left atrial contraction (left atrial systole) (during left ventricular diastole) causes added blood to flow across the mitral valve immediately before left ventricular systole. This late flow across the open mitral valve is seen on doppler echocardiography of the mitral valve as the "A wave". The late filling of the left ventricle contributes