AUTHOR=Vieira Marcelo Luiz Campos , Branco Carlos Eduardo de Barros , Gazola Alessandra Santos Lima , Vieira Paulo Pinto Alves Campos , Benvenuti Luiz Alberto , Demarchi Léa Maria Macruz Ferreira , Gutierrez Paulo Sampaio , Aiello Vera Demarchi , Tarasoutchi Flávio , Sampaio Roney Orismar 

TITLE=3D Echocardiography for Rheumatic Heart Disease Analysis: Ready for Prime Time

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2021.676938

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2021.676938

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=Rheumatic heart disease is still a very important health issue worldwide, mainly in underdeveloped countries.  Rheumatic heart disease continues to be a very important cause of morbidity and mortality throughout developing countries.   Rheumatic heart disease  caused by streptococcus from the A group hemolytic streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes), keeps position 1 as the most-common cardiovascular disease in young people aged <25 years considering all the continents.  Rheumatic heart disease can lead to valvular  cardiac aggression as well to carditis.  Rheumatic fever aggression leads most commonly to the fusion  and thickening of the edges of the cusps and to the fusion,  thickening, shortening  of the chordae and to calcification of the valves.  Valvular commissures can  also be deeply compromised leading to severe stenosis. Atria and ventricular  remodelling is also common following rheumatic aggression.    Mixed valvular agression is more common than isolated valvular disorder. Echocardiography  is the most relevant  imaging technique to provide not only  diagnostic information, but also  to enable prognostic data and to present a very important role for the correction of complications after  surgical repairs of rheumatic heart valvulopaties.  Three dimensional echocardiography provides aditional anatomical and morphofunctional information of utmost importance  for patients presenting rheumatic valvopaties. In this sense, three dimensional echocardiography is absolutelly ready for prime time use in rheumatic patients  presenting valvulopathies.