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National Heart Foundation, Sylhet

National Heart Foundation Hospital, Sylhet

Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease

Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease

As blood leaves each chamber of the heart, it passes through a valve. There are four valves in your heart. They make sure that blood flows in only one direction through your heart.

Congenital valve defects are valves not formed correctly before birth. Valves may be the wrong size, have malformed leaflets or have leaflets that are not attached to the annulus correctly. This most often affects the aortic or pulmonic valve.

Bicuspid Aortic Valve

Bicuspid aortic valve disease is a congenital valve disease that affects the aortic valve. Instead of the normal three leaflets or cusps, the bicuspid aortic valve has only two.


stenotic - stiff valves that can not open or close properlyWithout the third leaflet, the valve may be:

  • leaky - not able close tightly

This occurs more frequently in some family members. About 1/4 of patients may have some enlargement of the aorta above the valve. Bicuspid aortic valve disease affects about 2 percent of the population. Eighty-five percent of children with congenital aortic stenosis have a bicuspid aortic valve.