What is the relationship between hypertension and heart valve disease?

  Hypertensive heart valve disease is a functional or structural abnormality of single or multiple valve structures (including leaflets, annulus, tendons, or papillary muscles) due to inflammation, mucinous degeneration, degenerative changes, congenital malformations, ischemic necrosis, and trauma, resulting in stenosis and/or incomplete closure of the valve.  The main valvular diseases associated with hypertension are insufficiency of closure of the aortic and mitral valves. Long-term hypertension leads to hypertrophy and enlargement of the left ventricle or with left heart failure, and the above can cause enlargement of the mitral and aortic valve annulus resulting in relative closure insufficiency of the mitral and aortic valves. In addition, severe hypertension causing ascending aortic aneurysm can also lead to aortic valve insufficiency.  The diagnosis of valvular disease relies on a typical heart murmur and can be confirmed by echocardiography. Mild valvular insufficiency is often asymptomatic. Severe mitral valve insufficiency with high regurgitant flow results in decreased cardiac output, with prominent early symptoms of fatigue and weakness and late onset of dyspnea. Severe aortic insufficiency may present with palpitations, postural dizziness, precordial discomfort, and strong head pulsations, with late onset of left ventricular failure.  Treatment of hypertension with mitral and/or aortic valve insufficiency is mainly to control blood pressure so that diastolic blood pressure is <90 mmHg, with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and diuretics as the main drugs of choice.