What is the treatment for rheumatic heart disease?
Rheumatic heart disease essentially consists of either narrowing of the valve or leak in the valve. If the valve is narrowed then it can be opened by balloon valvotomy, which is a procedure requiring no cuts and no anaesthesia and is done just like an angiography in the cardiac cath lab, and involves a stay of around 3 days in the hospital. However, if the valve is damaged beyond a particular point then it cannot be opened either by balloon valvotomy or even by an operation and the valve has to be changed by an open-heart surgery. If the valve is leaking, then every attempt is made to repair the valve surgically. However, if the valve is heavily scarred and the supporting structure is damaged beyond repair, then the valve has to be replaced.
