Patient's question:
Recently, for some reason, I've been feeling discomfort in my heart. Although I often take medication to control it, the effect isn't very noticeable. When I went to the hospital for a check-up, they also prescribed medication. What is rheumatic heart disease?Doctor's answer:
Rheumatic heart disease, abbreviated as RHD, is a heart condition caused by rheumatic fever that damages heart valves. The main symptoms include stenosis or insufficiency of one or more of the heart's aortic valve, mitral valve, or tricuspid valve. Among these, the mitral valve is most commonly affected, followed by combined mitral and aortic valve involvement. Isolated aortic valve involvement is relatively rare. As the condition progresses, the patient's cardiac function is impaired, and symptoms gradually begin to appear, most commonly palpitations, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, fatigue, and decreased exercise tolerance. These symptoms may not be noticeable when walking on flat ground, but they become more apparent when climbing stairs or hills compared to normal individuals, and these symptoms tend to gradually worsen.