Q: I am 41 years old. When I was 34 years old I visited a hospital feeling discomfort and doctor checked ECG and BP. The BP was 150/110 and he diagnosed inferior-lateral ischaemia and admitted me in ICU and after 5 days after noticing that ECG was same as at the time of admission referred me for Echo and after Echo was diagnosed as Mild mitral valve prolapse with no regurgitation. I was on beta-blocker (Lopressor 50 mg) and other tablets. After 3 months I started having problems of slow heart rate and ectopic beats. After one year of struggle I did stress Thallium scan and found no Ischaemia , and no ventricular dysfunction. But occasionally I had the problem of ectopic beats and I was on Inderal 10 mg (propranolol). The inferior-lateral ischaemia was diagnosed as false result in ECG due to MVP. Later I went to Japan and on medical check up they found out ectopic beats and referred me to a cardiologist who after Holter test asked me to stop all medications and allowed me to do on-the-job training. I continued to have these ectopic beats for 5 to 6 months. Suddenly this problem stopped and my pulse rate also started showing increase to 72 beats per minute and normal BP. After this to get over the long three years of struggle I stopped checking ECG. Now I am still having no ectopics, no pains, I play, walk fast, etc. Should I continue like this or should I go for any further check ups just to be cautious. I checked my blood levels three days back - Total cholesterol 271 mg, HDL 42, VLDL 22, Triglyceride 125, Creatinine 1.05, Fasting sugar 95. Diagnosed as mild mitral valve prolapse. Please advise.

A:Mitral valve prolapse with no significant leak in the valve is a common and a very benign structural anomaly of the heart. Several studies in the last 5 -6 years have confirmed that no specific drug treatment is required. However an echocardiographic study should be repeated in 1 or 2 years. This is to make sure that there is no significant leak across the valve. You should do all the things which a normal person should do to keep fit viz: exercises, eating low fat diet, refrain from using tobacco and have periodic assessment of blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, etc.