By U. P. BASU, m.b., f.r.c.p.i., f.s.m.f. Senior Visiting Physician, Calcutta Medical College Hospitals There was a day in the history of the medical profession "in India when the presence of rheumatic carditis in this sub-continent was denied. Thus, Dr. Wig (1935) quoted Colonel Keats who after 25 years' experience in the Punjab was of opinion that rheumatic fever was practically non-existent ...

To describe the epidemiology and clinical features of Sydenham's chorea in the Aboriginal population of northern Australia a review was conducted of 158 episodes in 108 people: 106 were Aborigines, 79 were female, and the mean age was 10.9 years at first episode. Chorea occurred in 28% of cases of acute rheumatic fever, carditis occurred in 25% of episodes of chorea, and arthritis in 8%. Patien...

Background—Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) remains the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children worldwide. No therapeutic agent has been shown to alter the clinical outcome of the acute illness. Immunological mechanisms appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of ARF. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), a proven immunomodulator, may benefit cardiac conditions of an autoimmune nature. We ...

Acute rheumatic fever (RF) continues to be a major health problem at the dawn of the new millennium in many parts of the world.1–3 Rheumatic heart disease (RHD), the sequel of RF, is a very common cause of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity,1–5 accounts for 35% to 40% of cardiovascular disease-related hospital admissions, and is the predominant indication for cardiac surgery in developing c...

A study to examine mid- and long-term outcomes in patients with subclinical carditis was conducted. Data obtained at the time of diagnosis and during the follow-up of 158 patients diagnosed with subclinical carditis were retrieved and analyzed. Most patients had isolated mitral insufficiency. Frequency of morphological changes in the mitral valve was significantly lower in patients with at leas...

Lyme carditis is typically characterized by varying degrees of intermittent atrioventricular block occurring within weeks of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi. Myocarditis and/or pericarditis may occur. Cardiomyopathy has been associated with B. burgdorferi in Europe, but not in the United States. Patients with unexplained atrioventricular block or myopericarditis should be questioned for rec...

It is stated that prolongation of the Q-T interval is a reliable criterion of active carditis. A control investigation of a group of tuberculous children was undertaken with particular reference to this point. It was observed that prolongation of the Q-T interval is a rather frequent finding in childhood tuberculosis, but is not an expression of the cardiac status of the patient. The value of t...

It is stated that prolongation of the Q-T interval is a reliable criterion of active carditis. A control investigation of a group of tuberculous children was undertaken with particular reference to this point. It was observed that prolongation of the Q-T interval is a rather frequent finding in childhood tuberculosis, but is not an expression of the cardiac status of the patient. The value of t...

in order to find the correlation between the severity of carditis in acute rheumatic fever (arf) and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (esr), c-reactive protein (crp) and anti-streptolysin o (aso) titers, we performed a retrospective study in shiraz on one-hundred and four patients. the mean age of the patients was 11 years. fever was seen in 85.5%, arthralgia in 95.2%, arthritis in 81.7%, car...