Treatment of rheumatic heart disease
There is no medical treatment for rheumatic heart disease because the damage of heart valves is permanent. Your doctor uses medication only to manage the symptoms.
A) Surgical treatment:
1- Stenosis: your doctor tries to reopen the valve and make it at a healthy range. Your doctor will repair or replace the valve according to the severity of the damage. The first choice for your doctor is valve repair because it has a low risk of infection and saves the strength of the valve.
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- Balloon valvuloplasty: your doctor applies a catheter with a balloon under X-ray guidance to the narrow valve, then inflates the balloon to widen the opening of the valve and cut the fibrosis. Then, your doctor deflates the balloon and removes the catheter.
- Valvotomy: your doctor makes incisions at the edges of the leaflets of the valves to relieve the fibrosis.
- Valve replacement: If your doctor can’t repair the valve, he will replace your damaged valve. Your doctor uses tissue or synthetic valve.
2- Regurge: your doctor tries to restore the healthy range of the valve through valve repair or valve replacement.
B) Medical treatment:
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- Diuretics: your doctor prescribes diuretics to remove excess fluids that result from pulmonary congestion. Diuretics are like hydrochlorothiazide and Spironolactone.
- Anticoagulants: your doctor prescribes anticoagulants to decrease the risk of pulmonary embolism. Anticoagulants are like warfarin and aspirin.
- Antibiotics: your doctor prescribes antibiotics to treat the associated infection like infective endocarditis. Antibiotics are like penicillin G and gentamycin.
