Personalized heart valve care

One aspect of our approach to treating heart valve disease is creating a patient plan to protect your heart from additional damage by looking at your lifestyle, risk factors and pre-existing conditions such as diabetes. Lifestyle management includes looking at things like:

• Blood pressure
• Diet
• Exercise
• Sleep
• Skin and dental care
• Smoking (quit smoking)
• Stress and mental health
• Weight

Lifestyle management begins at your first appointment and continues throughout your life. We provide the tools to help our patients better manage their risk factors and offer support to help them make lifestyle changes to prevent further damage.

Medication and lifestyle management are often among the first steps in treating a heart valve condition. In many cases, medication is prescribed to help with symptoms or other risks until the disease progresses to the point of needing intervention. This medication management also helps prepare the body for a successful heart valve intervention to repair or replace the damaged valve.

The medication prescribed depends on the type and severity of your condition. These medications help control concerns such as:

• Blood pressure
• Heart rate
• Heart muscle function
• Water weight

Medication management is an important part of heart valve treatment before, during and after a procedure.

Once you experience more severe symptoms of heart valve disease, your life expectancy and quality of life can decline.

Progressive symptoms of heart valve disease include:

• Angina (chest pain)
• Dyspnea (breathing difficulty or discomfort)
• Syncope (fainting or sudden loss of consciousness)

These symptoms usually indicate that a procedure is needed to repair or replace a heart valve. The good news is that many people enjoy improved overall health and quality of life with proper treatment.

The Sentara Heart Valve Center understands there is no “one size fits all” approach to treating heart valve disease. That’s why our multidisciplinary team creates an individualized treatment plan for each patient, ensuring the safest, best outcome, and longest-lasting treatment for their needs.

Heart valve replacement and repair treatments available at the Sentara Heart Valve Center:

• Interventional procedures The Sentara Heart Valve Center is a nationwide leader in interventional procedures that repair or replace the valve using a catheter-based approach, avoiding the need to do an open surgery. These minimally invasive procedures offer shorter recovery times and are often the best option for high-risk patients who might not otherwise be able to have an open surgery due to their anatomy or frailty.
• Heart valve surgery Although minimally invasive procedures have been resoundingly successful, we still offer traditional surgery, as it remains the right path for some patients. This includes conventional and robotic heart surgery to perform heart valve repairs, replacements, and reconstructions.

We know your heart health journey doesn’t begin or end with one appointment or a procedure. From your first appointment through procedures and treatments, our team offers the full range of support.

We also work with your primary care team and other health team members to give you peace of mind in knowing your care team is up-to-date, informed and on the same page.

The Sentara Heart Valve Center treatment plan includes patient-centered care with support from various resources such as:

• Cardiac rehabilitation
• Care planning
• Discharge planning
• Financial support
• Home care support if needed
• Pritikin Intense Cardiac Rehabilitation (ICR)
• Spiritual support if desired

Your first consultation, also known as the initial multidisciplinary consultation, will be with one of our providers, who will focus on your heart history and symptoms and discuss the testing needed to create a care plan. Our nurse will help get you scheduled for the recommended tests. This appointment will include:

• Complete review of symptoms and history
• Initial imaging studies
• Discussion of treatment pathways

Your next step will be tests to help us identify the best procedure for your needs. Our experienced providers use state-of-the-art tools to diagnose heart valve disease. The types of tests ordered vary for each patient but may include any of the following:

• Specialized cardiac CT
• Comprehensive echocardiogram
• Cardiac catheterization if needed
• Additional testing as required

Learn more about cardiac imaging and diagnostic testing.

Once we’ve completed testing to examine your heart valve issue, our team meets in a “heart valve conference” to review your test results and make recommendations. 

Every case is reviewed by our team including:

• Structural interventional cardiologists
• Cardiac surgeons
• Advanced Imaging specialists
• Advanced Practice Providers and valve clinic coordinators
• Advanced heart failure cardiologists
• Electrophysiologists
• Specialized nursing staff

The collaboration among this larger team means each patient gets the expertise of multiple disciplines of heart specialists to develop the best treatment plan. 

When choosing your treatment, our team considers multiple factors:

• Age and overall health
• Valve disease severity
• Anatomy and technical factors
• Other medical conditions
• Patient preferences and goals

Once your treatment plan is created, we will present an easy-to-follow summary to you that reviews test results, a complete diagnosis and the recommended treatment options.

We will discuss the best options considering your health history and care goals. Once you and our team agree upon the recommendation, we will coordinate the next steps of your care.

Your heart valve procedure and recovery are the next step. Although there’s no set timeline, patients often have an appointment for their procedure within four to six weeks from when they came in for their first appointment. Your procedure takes place in our state-of-the-art facility at the Sentara Heart Hospital and includes a team of experienced team members specially trained in cardiac care. After your procedure, we begin early mobilization and cardiac rehabilitation to support your recovery.

As you begin your recovery, our team of cardiac rehabilitation professionals is ready to provide the support and education you need to commit to a new, healthier lifestyle. Together, we will monitor your progress and help you achieve your health and wellness goals.

The Cardiac rehab team includes highly qualified and experienced individuals:

• Cardiac nurses
• Exercise physiologists
• Registered dietitians
• Other heart experts

Learn more about cardiac rehabilitation programs available through Sentara.

We also offer the Pritikin Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation (ICR) program.

Your recovery does not end with the procedure. We coordinate follow-up care and long-term management of your condition with your primary cardiologist and caregivers. This includes ongoing monitoring of your heart valve function, continued cardiac rehabilitation as needed, and support for lifestyle changes that are best for your future heart health.

Our support services

Sentara offers support services to assist our patients from their first appointment to diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

• Case management 
• Financial counseling 
• Visitor information and guest services 
• Integrative medicine at the Carrillo Kern Center for Integrative Therapies in Norfolk and Sentara Integrative Medicine Physicians in Harrisonburg 
• Nutrition services (specializing in heart-healthy nutrition)