A disease of the heart valve describes the condition when one or several heart valves are not able to function normally. It can be either congenital or acquired. Minor forms of heart valve dysfunction do not need any treatment. However, surgery is necessary in severe cases.
The heart includes the following four valves: aortic valve, tricuspid valve, mitral valve and pulmonary valve. When any of these valves do not function normally, this will be described as a disease of the heart valve.
The causes of a disease of the heart valve can be either congenital or acquired. Congenital diseases of the heart valves often occur in the pulmonary valve and aortic valve, and acquired diseases of the heart valves often involve the aortic valve and mitral valve. Generally speaking, there are three common types of dysfunction of a heart valve: regurgitation, atresia and stenosis. Regurgitation occurs when the valves are unable to close adequately, and this leads to a flowing back of blood on every heartbeat. Stenosis means that the valves do not open regularly and therefore narrow the blood canal. This occurs when the valves thicken and become stiffer. Atresia means, that the channel where the valves are located is abnormally narrow and prevents blood flowing through. An often found hint for a disease of the heart valve is a heart murmur (heart sound). Depending on which valves are affected, patients may develop symptoms such as shortness of breath, dizziness, palpitations or swollen legs.
The symptoms of some heart valve diseases develop slowly and are minor at the beginning. Sometimes they do not need any treatment but controls at regular intervals. However, once treatment is necessary, it may include medication to reduce the symptoms and for protection of the affected heart and its valves from further damage. In some severe cases, repairmen or even replacement of the heart valve can be necessary.
Several years of work in academia, medical practice and finally commercialization make it possible to provide an end-to-end process to help users to “find the appropriate medical help based on their present symptoms”. Below you will find a short explanation, showing you which part of the platform will help you best in finding the appropriate medical support.
Proceed as follows to enter your current symptoms.
Click on the appropriate body part on the picture. Select one/multiple symptoms corresponding to your complaint.
You can also add symptoms by typing your medical complaint in the search box and selecting the best matching suggestion.
Note: Your information will be kept anonymously.
Once you have selected all applicable symptoms, click the “analyze disease pattern”-button.
Accordingly, you will get a list of possible diseases and matching doctor categories who can further help you.
You can inform yourself about the possible diseases by reading the related information. But you can also return to the previous step and add more symptoms or delete already added ones to further narrow down your disease pattern.
Click on the desired doctor category to find a doctor who can help you.
If you are logged in with your profile, you will be displayed the appropriate doctors in your area. Otherwise you can enter an address in the “address” field and you will be displayed a doctor’s list around that specified address.
You will receive further information about the displayed doctors when you press on “details”.
Online bookable doctors in your area will be indicated with the notation “Book appointment” or “Book externally”, additionally they will be displayed on top of the list for your convenience.
Click on “Book appointment” to start the online appointment booking process with the desired doctor.
Please select an available appointment. “Green“ appointments are booked directly. “Red“ appointments need to be confirmed by the doctor.
Enter your general personal and health information.
Enter your present medical symptoms.
Enter your mobile phone number to identify yourself and you can finalize the appointment booking.
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