Pathology of valvular heart disease Flashcards
What can go wrong?
Stenosis
Incompetence (systole)
Stenosis
When the valve won’t open properly
Incompetence (systole)
Valve becomes leaky
Lets blood back through
What causes the problems?
Rheumatic fever
Calcific aortic valve disease
Age-related degeneration
Rheumatic fever
Infection that damages the heart valves
Streptococcal pharyngitis
Rheumatic fever bacteria
Strep. pyogenes
Streptococcal pharyngitis –>
Immune reaction by body
- -> cross reaction with self antigens leading to:
- endocarditis
- myocarditis
- pericarditis
- polyarthritis
- subcutaneous nodules
- erythema marginatum
Valve fibrosis after rheumatic fever
If valve fibrosis at all
Mitral valve 90%
Aortic valve 40%
Calcific aortic valve disease
Deposit calcium in aortic valve, generally causes it to be stenotic
- rigid valve cusps
- stenotic valve
- LVH
- inadequate coronary artery perfusion
Degeneration of the mitral valve
Floppy mitral valve
Causes?
Prosthetic valve disease types
Biological -human -porcine Artificial -tilting disc -ball & cage
Biological prosthetic heart valve
Patients own tissue
Blood can flow through it
Pts don’t need anticoagulation
Calcify up in around 10 years (good for older people)
Prosthetic heart valve complications
–haemolysis –coagulation –anti coagulation therapy –mechanical failure –calcification –infective endocarditis
Infective endocarditis and rheumatic fever
Infective endocarditis is not rheumatic fever Valve damage due to rheumatic fever predisposes to infective endocarditis
Infective endocarditis - sites
Any abnormal heart valve –all pathologies mentioned so far –prosthetic heart valves Tricuspid valve –intravenous drug users