Raising awareness for rheumatic mitral valve disease

Authors

  • Livia SA Passos The Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Maria Carmo P Nunes Hospital das Clínicas e Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
  • Peter Zilla University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Magdi Yacoub Imperial College London, London, UK.
  • Elena Aikawa The Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21542/gcsp.2020.26

Abstract

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a major burden in low- to mid-income countries, where each year it accounts for over a million premature deaths associated with severe valve disease. Life-saving valve replacement procedures are not available to the majority of affected RHD patients, contributing to an increased risk of death in young adults and creating a devastating impact. In December 2017, a group of representatives of major cardiothoracic societies and industry, discussed the plight of the millions of patients who suffer from RHD. A comprehensive solution based on this global partnership was outlined in "The Cape Town Declaration on Access to Cardiac Surgery in the Developing World". The key challenge in controlling RHD is related to identification and removal of barriers to the translation of existing knowledge into policy, programs, and practice to provide high-quality care for patients with RHD. This review provides an overview on RHD by emphasizing the disease medical and economic burdens worldwide, risk factors, recent advance for early disease detection, and overall preventive strategies.

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Published

2020-12-06

Issue

Section

Global health