Consequences of excessive delay in treatment of rheumatic heart disease

  As rheumatic heart disease is often multiple heart valves either calcified and hardened, or fibrotic degeneration and deformation, this will cause valve stenosis or incomplete closure or both, thus appearing heart pumping dysfunction. In other words, the blood that should go in cannot go in and the blood that should go out cannot go out, which will cause heart and lung failure in the long run, and sudden death may occur when the patient runs, showers, has a cold or when pneumonia worsens.  The early manifestations of rheumatic heart disease patients are mainly symptoms of rheumatic fever such as fever, panic, breath-holding, redness, swelling and heat pain in large joints, and the heart often only shows a murmur. At this time, surgical treatment is not required. Generally, surgeons will carry out conservative medical treatment such as anti-rheumatic, cardiac strengthening and diuretic according to the corresponding symptoms of patients. Its main role is like driving a carriage, which can play the effect of adding whip to enhance the function of the heart or reduce the burden of the heart.  However, once the symptoms of heart extension, atrial fibrillation, obvious cardiac insufficiency and other symptoms that are consistent with the surgical treatment of rheumatic heart disease appear, patients should be operated in time. Otherwise, the condition reaches the threshold of decompensation and surgery cannot be performed.  Therefore, when rheumatic heart disease develops to the extent that surgery is required, there should be no delay. The surgical replacement of artificial heart valves is like installing “artificial valves” on the heart, which can improve blood flow and cardiopulmonary function while greatly improving the patient’s quality of life.