Is rheumatic heart disease considered a serious illness?

Written by Wang Lei
Cardiology
Updated on September 08, 2024
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In the case of rheumatic heart disease, it spans different stages of the disease. In its early stage, it can affect the heart valves to a certain extent. However, this impact may progressively worsen over time. Thus, the initial effects on the heart are not severe. Once it causes mitral valve regurgitation, patients often exhibit clear symptoms, such as chest tightness and shortness of breath after activity, and in severe cases, pulmonary edema, coughing, and expectoration of bloody sputum. Severe cases can lead to nocturnal insomnia and orthopnea, presenting with paroxysmal breathing difficulties. These symptoms indicate cardiac function failure, a serious condition. Therefore, inadequate or delayed treatment can be life-threatening.

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Written by Jia Qiu Ju
Cardiology
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Rheumatic heart disease requires surgery under what circumstances?

Surgical treatment for rheumatic heart disease includes two methods: interventional surgery and surgical surgery. The indications for interventional surgery are moderate or severe mitral stenosis, a mitral valve area less than 1.5 square centimeters, accompanied by symptoms, cardiac function classification of grade II or higher, or moderate to severe mitral stenosis without symptoms but accompanied by pulmonary hypertension, with a pulmonary artery pressure greater than 50mmHg. Valve morphology suitable for percutaneous intervention means that the valve still has decent flexibility at midnight, with no significant calcification and subvalvular structural disease, no thrombus formation in the left atrium, and no moderate or severe mitral regurgitation. The indications for surgical surgery include moderate or severe mitral stenosis accompanied by symptoms of heart failure, cardiac function between grade III and IV, and patients who are unsuitable for percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty.

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Written by Wang Lei
Cardiology
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Does rheumatic heart disease require surgery?

Patients with rheumatic heart disease primarily have involvement of valvular lesions, with the most common being accumulation in the mitral valve, leading to mitral stenosis. In the early stage of the disease, mitral stenosis often has no clinical symptoms and can only be detected through physical examinations, such as auscultation, which may reveal mitral valve murmurs. For patients with asymptomatic rheumatic heart disease, conservative treatment is primarily advised, which includes rest and reducing cardiac load to avoid surgery. Additionally, for severe rheumatic heart disease, mitral stenosis can be very serious, affecting the patient's cardiac function and causing symptoms such as chest tightness and fatigue after activity, and even paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea and inability to lie flat at night. In such cases, surgical treatment is required, such as mitral valvuloplasty or prosthetic valve replacement surgery. Thus, surgery is necessary in the late stages of rheumatic heart disease.

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Written by Wang Lei
Cardiology
51sec home-news-image

Is rheumatic heart disease considered a serious illness?

In the case of rheumatic heart disease, it spans different stages of the disease. In its early stage, it can affect the heart valves to a certain extent. However, this impact may progressively worsen over time. Thus, the initial effects on the heart are not severe. Once it causes mitral valve regurgitation, patients often exhibit clear symptoms, such as chest tightness and shortness of breath after activity, and in severe cases, pulmonary edema, coughing, and expectoration of bloody sputum. Severe cases can lead to nocturnal insomnia and orthopnea, presenting with paroxysmal breathing difficulties. These symptoms indicate cardiac function failure, a serious condition. Therefore, inadequate or delayed treatment can be life-threatening.

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Written by Zhang Yue Mei
Cardiology
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Is rheumatic heart disease hereditary?

Rheumatic heart disease is not hereditary, and it is not a genetic disease; it is not directly related to genetics. It is mainly due to an abnormal immune response caused by streptococcal infection, which leads to damage to the heart valves, resulting in stenosis and insufficiency of the heart valves. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of rheumatic heart disease. Very rare rheumatic streptococcal infections can be reduced by using effective antibiotics to control the streptococcal infection. Common diseases that cause streptococcal infections include tonsillitis and upper respiratory tract infections. Once tonsillitis or an upper respiratory tract infection occurs, effective antibiotics should be used to control the infection as soon as possible.

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Written by Jia Qiu Ju
Cardiology
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Do rheumatic heart disease joints feel cold?

Rheumatic heart disease does not cause cold joints during an attack. The main clinical symptoms are primarily heart failure or arrhythmias. However, due to the underlying rheumatic heart disease, there is rheumatic fever. If it is in the acute phase of rheumatic fever, cold joints, swelling, and pain may occur. It is necessary to conduct further tests including rheumatic factor, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, etc., to clarify the specific cause of the cold joints. Treatment can be directed towards the symptoms that appear. The main focus during an attack of rheumatic heart disease should be on managing heart failure and arrhythmias, maintaining heart function, reducing the burden on the heart, and controlling common arrhythmias, such as episodes of atrial fibrillation, among others.