Rheumatic heart disease in the elderly

Rheumatic fever is an autoimmune connective tissue disease associated with a group A hemolytic streptococcus infection. It mainly affects the heart and joints, followed by the skin, serosa, and blood vessels. It has a tendency to recur, often leaving heart valve damage and causing rheumatic heart disease. The most common clinical disease is mitral and aortic valve disease. Rheumatic heart disease in the elderly is mostly from the youth to the elderly, and very few of them develop the disease in their later years. Patients with this disease may live to the old because of the original The degree of invasion is light, the number of recurrent episodes of rheumatic fever is small, or the age of onset is relatively late. In recent years, due to the significant improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of valve disease, the functional status of heart valves can be quantitatively evaluated through many non-invasive methods. With the development of modern fine biological and mechanical valves, patients with rheumatic heart valve disease have survived. The rate is increasing.