439 O 30 or 40 years ago, rheumatic fever was a common topic in the Journal. A PubMed search for articles on rheumatic fever published between 1967 and 1976 returned 55 New England Journal of Medicine articles — fewer than for endocarditis (77) but more than for stroke and syphilis (24 entries each). A similar PubMed search for the decade 1997 through 2006 yielded just eight entries for rheumat...

In two patients with rheumatic heart disease a short, loud, high pitched, early diastolic, snapping sound was heard at or below and to the right of the xiphisternum. Except for the different area of audibility it was similar on auscultation to the opening snap of the mitral valve. Both patients showed clinical evidence of tricuspid as well as mitral and aortic valvular disease. There was hemody...

Between 1970 and 1981, 12% of patients undergoing mitral valve surgery were found to have chordal rupture. Spontaneous or primary rupture accounted for 74.6% of patients (primary group); in the remainder (secondary group) chordal rupture complicated chronic rheumatic valvular disease (8.9%), bacterial endocarditis on both normal (8.5%) and rheumatic valves (4.7%), ischaemic heart disease (2.3%)...

BACKGROUND The incidence of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has waned in Western countries, however that is not the situation in developing nations. METHODS Records were reviewed of patients from the Eastern Cape municipal districts who presented to the Paediatric Cardiology Unit with ARF and RHD from January 2008 to August 2015. RESULTS Total of 56 patients wi...

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children and young adults in developing countries. It results from throat infection with group A beta hemolytic streptococcus that proceeds to acute rheumatic fever (ARF). We report a 13 years old girl from Darfur presenting with recurrent acute rheumatic fever for 4 years that led to affection of all her heart ...

Biochemical analyses and electron microscopy of mitral valve collagen were carried out in 29 patients with various mitral valve diseases. They were divided into 3 groups: (1) rheumatic heart disease (15 patients), (2) isolated rupture of chordae tendineae (8 patients), and (3) floppy mitral valve (6 patients). Normal mitral valves obtained at necropsy from 6 patients who died from extracardiac ...

Background. Although our comprehension of nonrheumatic aortic stenosis (NRAS) has increased substantially during the last decade, less is known about the histopathology of rheumatic aortic stenosis (RAS). The aim of this study was to investigate rheumatic aortic stenosis by means of analyses previously used in nonrheumatic stenosis. Material and Methods. Valve specimens were obtained from 39 pa...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is one of the causes of morbidity and mortality in valvular heart disease. The phenomenon of apoptosis, though rare in cardiac muscle may contribute to loss of its function. Role of apoptosis in RV in patients with rheumatic valvular heart disease is investigated in this study. METHODS Patients with rheumatic mitral valve stenosis for...

OBJECTIVE Mitral valve repair in rheumatic patients is still a challenge. The purpose of this study is to analyze the results of mitral valve repair in rheumatic patients in the Heart Institute University of Sao Paulo Medical School. METHODS Were analyzed retrospectively, between 1985 and 2005, 330 patients submitted to mitral valve repair in the Heart Institute of São Paulo. The mean age was...

A Free-floating ball valve thrombus in the left atrium is a rare clinical entity and has been reported infrequently in Indian literature despite the high incidence of Rheumatic mitral valve stenosis. Early diagnosis and prompt surgical intervention are mandatory otherwise it may lead to catastrophic consequence. We are presenting our experience with one such case which was diagnosed clinically ...