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If you go to research LASIK eye surgery online, you may get conflicting messages. Some articles rave about it, but in some cases, others link it to severe pain or even suicide. 7 Action News' Carolyn Clifford sat down with one of the area's biggest providers of eye surgery to try and separate fact from fiction, so if you go under the laser, you know the risk.
A leaking mitral valve allows blood to flow in two directions during the contraction. Some blood flows from the ventricle through the aortic valve – as it should – and some blood flows back into the atrium. A leaking (or regurgitant) aortic valve allows blood to flow in two directions. Oxygen-rich blood either flows out through the aorta to the body – as it should – or it flows backwards from the aorta into the left ventricle when the ventricle relaxes. Leaking valves can cause the heart to work harder to pump the same amount of blood.
Mitral valve regurgitation, known as leaky heart valve, can be treated with the MitraClip procedure, especially if you're not a candidate for surgery. As premier heart specialists in the Rocky Mountains, Aurora Denver Cardiology Associates physicians perform this procedure and believe it can be an essential treatment for heart health.
Ectopia cordis is a rare genetic defect. During a baby’s development in utero, their chest wall doesn’t form correctly. It also doesn’t fuse together as it normally would. This prevents the heart from developing where it should, leaving it defenseless and exposed outside of the protection of the chest wall. The defect affects about one in 126,000 births. In partial ectopia cordis, the heart is located outside the chest wall, but just under the skin. The heart can be seen beating through the skin.