Cerebral Infarction Due to Thromboembolic Complication of Rheumatic Heart Disease Patient with Mechanical Mitral and Aortic Prosthesis: A Case Report.

Korean J Leg Med. 2000 May;24(1):82-86. Korean.

Department of Forensic medicine, National Institute of Scientific Investigation, Korea.

Chronic rheumatic heart disease is the most important consequence of rheumatic fever and characterized principally by deforming fibrotic valvular disease(particularly mitral stenosis), which can produce permanent dysfunction and severe, sometimes fatal, cardiac dysfunction decades later. So the operation should be carried out in symptomatic patients with moderate to severe mitral or aortic stenosis or regurgitation. Postoperative mortality rate is low. But some postoperative complications including thromboembolism and prosthetic valve endocarditis are associated with high mortality. We report a autopsy case diagnosed as cerebral infarction due to thromboembolic complication of rheumatic heart disease patient with mechanical mitral and aortic prostheses. To our knowledge, this is the initial autopsy presentation of cerebral infarction due to thromboembolic complication of mechanical prosthetic valve in the patient with rheumatic heart disease in Korea.

Key words: Rheumatic heart disease, Thromboembolism, Heart valve prosthesis, cerebral infarction