What is a heart valve?
Your heart has four valves: the mitral valve and the aortic valve on the left side of your heart and the tricuspid valve and the pulmonic valve on the right side of your heart. In order for blood to move properly through your heart, each of these valves must open and close properly as the heart beats. The valves are composed of tissue (usually referred to as leaflets or cusps). This tissue comes together to close the valve which prevents blood from improperly mixing in the heart’s four chambers (right and left atrium and right and left ventricle). • When does a heart valve open and close? You may notice that the beating of your heart makes a “dub-dub, dub-dub” sound. This sound corresponds to the opening and closing of the valves in your heart. The first “dub” sound is softer than the second and is called diastole. In diastole, the mitral and tricuspid valves are opened so that the ventricles can fill with blood. In addition, the aortic and pulmonic valves are closed to prevent blood l
