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Rheumatic Heart Disease Diagnosed During Pregnancy: A 30‐Year Follow‐up
Author(s) -
Gleicher Norbert,
Knutzen Victor K.,
Elkayam Uri,
Loew Saul,
Kerenyi Thomas D.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1002/j.1879-3479.1979.tb00115.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pregnancy , heart disease , natural history , stenosis , heart failure , surgery , lesion , valvular heart disease , cardiology , disease , pediatrics , genetics , biology
One hundred one patients originally diagnosed as having rheumatic heart disease (RHD) during the years 1945–1948 were reevaluated in 1975 to determine the natural history of the disease. Twenty patients (19.8%) showed no sign of RHD. Of the patients with confirmed RHD, 56 (70.0%) had their original lesion confirmed, while 23 (28.8%) had developed additional valvular involvement. Pure mitral stenosis resulted in significantly lower mortality than all other valvular lesions, and congestive heart failure was the leading cause of death. Nineteen patients underwent cardiac surgery; the mortality in this group (52.6%) was not significantly higher than that in the overall RHD group (38.8%). False diagnosis of RHD during pregnancy is common. A more thorough evaluation of the “cardiac murmur of pregnancy” is advocated.