Rheumatic Heart Disease

Tricuspid valve stenosis is relatively rare and occurs when the leaflets of the tricuspid valve become abnormally stiffened or immobile resulting in impaired right ventricular filling from a decreased tricuspid valve orifice area.

Rheumatic heart disease is a chronic condition that results years after acute rheumatic fever, which is caused by group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus pyogenes.

An Anitschkow myocyte is an inflammatory cell (macrophage) that is part of an Aschoff Body seen histopathologically during acute rheumatic myocarditis.

The mitral valve, so named because of its similarity to a bishop’s miter, has five important structural elements: 1) the mitral annulus, 2) the mitral valve leaflets, 3) the commissures, 4) chordae tendineae and 5) papillary muscles.