Rheumatic and Nonrheumatic Valvular Heart Disease

Rheumatic and nonrheumatic valvular heart disease: epidemiology, management, and prevention in Africa.

BACKGROUND Unlike the Western world, valvular disease ranks among the major cardiovascular afflictions in Africa. Acute rheumatic fever and chronic rheumatic valvular disease in their most virulent form are still commonly encountered and impose a huge burden on limited healthcare resources. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed a systematic review of the literature with PubMed using rheumatic feve...

Rheumatic and Nonrheumatic Valvular Heart Disease Epidemiology, Management, and Prevention in Africa

Background—Unlike the Western world, valvular disease ranks among the major cardiovascular afflictions in Africa. Acute rheumatic fever and chronic rheumatic valvular disease in their most virulent form are still commonly encountered and impose a huge burden on limited healthcare resources. Methods and Results—We performed a systematic review of the literature with PubMed using rheumatic fever,...

Valvular heart disease: rheumatic or rheumatoid?

Coconut Atrium in Long-Standing Rheumatic Valvular Heart Disease

BACKGROUND Complete calcification of the left atrium (LA) is called "coconut atrium", which decreases the compliance of LA, leading to the elevation of LA pressure that is transmitted to the right-side of the heart. The pathogenesis of LA calcification in patients with rheumatic heart disease is unknown; however, possible mechanisms include chronic strain force in the atrial wall and inflammati...

Immunologic Factors in Acute Rheumatic Fever Compared to Rheumatic Heart Disease

Background/Objective: To clarify the state of different immunologic factors in patients with acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) compared to healthy individuals.Patients and Methods: Patients with ARF (#21), patients with RHD six months after the onset of ARF (#19), and healthy children from the same age group with normal physical examination and no history of pharyngi...