Warning Signs Of Aortic Stenosis

Swollen Legs And Feet

Blood around the body that is depleted of oxygen moves through the veins back to the heart before it is pumped into the lungs. Once in the lungs, blood undergoes carbon dioxide exchange for oxygen before being pumped back into the heart and then out into the aorta. When the aortic valve opening is too narrow, it can cause the back up of blood in the venous circulation because a larger amount of oxygen-poor blood is trying to reach the heart than the amount of oxygen-rich blood leaving the heart into the aorta. The veins can be flexible and expand to a certain degree to adapt to high volumes of blood. However, the veins can only stretch so far and will experience an increase in wall permeability once that flexibility threshold has been met. The increased permeability in the venous walls allows for fluids to leak out of the bloodstream into the neighboring tissues. Venous blood tends to pool legs and feet from the force of gravity, forcing more fluids into these tissues during venous circulation backup. The increased fluid volume in the feet and legs causes them to swell.

Read more about the various indicators of aortic stenosis now.