Poorly suited heart valve prostheses heighten the plight of patients with rheumatic heart disease

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) still affects more patients globally than degenerative valve disease. The vast majority of these patients live in low- to middle-income countries. Once symptomatic, they will need heart valve surgery. Unfortunately, prosthetic valves perform poorly in these patients given their young age, the high incidence of multi-valve disease, late diagnoses and often challenging socio-economic circumstances.Notwithstanding the fact that better valve designs would ideally be available, ill-informed decision making processes between bioprosthetic and mechanical valves are contributing to the poor results.
Source: International Journal of Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research