What is Tricuspid Regurgitation?

The heart is a complicated piece of machinery. It pumps the blood of life into your body to make you live and breathe. In simple terms, it’s a pump that works forever as long as you live. But this pump is a system of chambers and valves. These valves are there to make sure that the heart doesn’t pump blood in the wrong direction.

In the right side of the heart, the chambers are divided as the upper right atrium and the lower right ventricle. The junction between these chambers is manned by a valve called the tricuspid valve. As the name itself suggests, the valve is composed of three cusps. This valve usually only allows blood to flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle, but sometimes blood leaks back in the other direction: from the right ventricle to the right atrium as a result of improper valve structure or function. This is called tricuspid regurgitation or tricuspid insufficiency.

How is it Caused?

You may get tricuspid regurgitation from birth, which is called “congenital,” or you may pick it up later in life, which are called “acquired” causes. At birth, some people have an anomaly called “Ebstein’s anomaly,” which occurs in approximately 1 in 200,000 live births, where the valve is displaced abnormally, causing regurgitation. Congenital connective tissue disorders such as Marfan’s syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome also may cause this.

With regard to acquired causes, rheumatic fever can damage the heart valves in a disease known as rheumatic carditis, and infection of the heart valves by microorganisms such as bacteria may also cause regurgitation. A heart tumor such as a myxomatous tumor may, in turn, cause this. However, the most common acquired cause, if there is no valve deformity, is due to dilatation of the right ventricle when it fills up with blood. This can occur if you have right heart failure or pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in your lungs).