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The right treatments may delay or prevent heart failure in people with rheumatic heart disease. But the disease is permanent and requires long-term care. Without regular checkups, rheumatic heart disease can lead to severe heart failure.
The best treatment is to prevent rheumatic fever. Antibiotics can often treat strep infections and keep rheumatic fever from occurring. Anti-inflammatory medicines may be used to reduce inflammation and lower the risk of heart damage. Other medicines may be needed to manage heart failure.
Considerations include ARF presentation (age, time since last ARF, ± rheumatic carditis), and presence and severity of chronic RHD. Typical treatment durations are 5-10 years, or until age 21 (whichever is longer). For severe chronic RHD, treatment can be life-long, even after surgical intervention.
Rheumatic heart disease treatment Currently, there’s no cure for rheumatic heart disease and damage to your heart valves is not reversible. People with severe heart damage often need surgery to...
How is rheumatic heart disease treated? There is no cure for rheumatic heart disease and the damage to the heart valves are permanent. Patients with severe rheumatic heart disease will often require surgery to replace or repair the damages valve or valves.
Management of rheumatic heart disease can be broken down into prevention and long-term management. Primary prevention of rheumatic heart disease centers on speedy recognition and treatment of group A streptococcal pharyngitis to prevent the development of acute rheumatic fever.
The best treatment for rheumatic heart disease is fever prevention. Persons who have contracted the fever are given antibiotic treatments. Learn more here.
Timely heart valve surgery can mitigate the progression to heart failure, disability, and death. Valve repair is preferable over replacement for rheumatic mitral regurgitation but is not available to the vast majority of patients in endemic regions.
This topic will review the management and prevention of RHD. The clinical manifestations and diagnosis of RHD and the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) are discussed separately.
Head to your doctor and get tested. A simple throat swab and a quick round of antibiotics can save you from a whole lot of trouble down the road. Modern Heart and Vascular offers comprehensive cardiology care, including diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic heart disease.