The tricuspid valve (also known as the right atrioventricular valve) is on the right side of the heart, between the right atrium and the right ventricle. The normal tricuspid valve usually has three leaflets and three papillary muscles. They are connected to the papillary muscles by the chordae tendineae, which lay in the right ventricle. Tricuspid valves may also occur with two or four leaflets, and the number may change during life.[1]
Tricuspid regurgitation is not uncommon in the tricuspid valve. It is a common valve to be infected (endocarditis) in IV drug users.[2][3] Although it is not a common site of endocarditis, patients with a small VSD usually develop endocarditis of the tricuspid valve.citation needed
^ Richard Van Pragh: Cardiac anatomy in A. C. Chang et al.: Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care, Philadelphia 1998.
^ Demin AA, Drobysheva VP, Vel'ter OIu (2000). "[Infectious endocarditis in intravenous drug abusers]" (in Russian). Klinicheskaia meditsina78 (8): 47–51. PMID 11019526.
^ Butany J, Dev V, Leong SW, Soor GS, Thangaroopan M, Borger MA (2006). "Infective endocarditis of the tricuspid valve". Journal of cardiac surgery21 (6): 603–4. doi:10.1111/j.1540-8191.2006.00313.x. PMID 17073968.
