Sandeep Kumar Kar, Anusua Banerjee, Chaitali Sen Dasgupta and Anupam Goswami
Rheumatic fever is still the commonest cause of mitral stenosis in developing countries. This is attributable to predominance of overcrowding, unhygienic lifestyle and poor socio-economic status. Usually rheumatic carditis sets in by 10-20 years after an attack of rheumatic fever. However juvenile rheumatic carditis has a fulminant course and requires prompt intervention [2]. In case of a pliable valve and minimal mitral regurgitation, percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty has shown to produce good immediate and long term outcome in paediatric patients.
