It helps control the flow of blood through the heart. Mitral valve stenosis limits the flow of blood through the mitral valve and reduces the amount of blood available to the body. Mitral valve stenosis is almost always due to damage from rheumatic fever. It may take years for the damage to become evident. It is four times more common in women than in men.
Symptoms usually appear gradually over the years.
Your health care provider will review your history and symptoms and examine you. Mitral valve stenosis causes a murmuring sound that your provider can hear through a stethoscope. This procedure is used to examine the inside of your blood vessels and heart chambers. A dye that shows up on x-rays is injected through the catheter into the blood as it flows through the heart. A series of x-rays are taken to show how the heart valves and heart chambers are working.