Patient was educated regarding normal functioning of mitral valve as follows:
- Mitral valve is the valve on the left side of heart, between left atrium and left ventricle.
- Mitral valve opens when the left atrium contracts, allowing oxygenated blood from the left atrium to be pumped into the left ventricle.
- Contraction of left ventricle results in closing of the mitral valve and opening of the aortic valve. This results in oxygenated blood in the left ventricle getting pumped out through the aortic valve and the aorta and gets distributed to all the vital organs in the body via the general circulation.
- Complete closure of mitral valve prevents any back flow of blood from the left ventricle into left atrium, when the left ventricle contracts.
- Thus, a normally functioning mitral valve acts as a gateway, permitting only one-way flow of blood, from the left atrium into the left ventricle, but not in the reverse direction.
