Long-Term Effects of Percutaneous Balloon Mitral Valvuloplasty on Left Atrial Mechanical Function

Abstract

heumatic heart disease is one of the most common forms of cardiac diseases worldwide, particularly in developing countries, where it remains the second most common cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality after atherosclerotic vascular disease. Mitral stenosis (MS) is the most common valve lesion seen in chronic rheumatic heart disease. MS in adults is almost always due to a post-rheumatic inflammatory and degenerative disease that fuses the mitral commissures and thickens the chordae. Chronic pressure overload due to the stenosis, and atrial inflammation secondary to rheumatic carditis, lead to LA and LA-appendage dilation and fibrosis of the atrial wall and, consequently, an impairment of the LA contractile function