Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 6, 2023; 11(7): 1600-1606
Published online Mar 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i7.1600
Rheumatic valvular heart disease treated with traditional Chinese medicine: A case report
Wei-Hang Chen, Yan Tan, Ya-Lei Wang, Xu Wang, Zhao-Heng Liu
Wei-Hang Chen, Yan Tan, Zhao-Heng Liu, School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 102488, China
Ya-Lei Wang, Xu Wang, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 102488, China
Author contributions: Chen WH and Tan Y contributed equally to this work; Chen WH contributed to original draft writing and editing; Tan Y contributed to editing and data analysis; Wang YL and Wang X contributed to data collection; Liu ZH contributed to supervision; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project, No. 81904049.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: All authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhao-Heng Liu, MD, School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 11 North 3rd Ring East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 102488, China. zliu@bucm.edu.cn
Received: November 4, 2022
Peer-review started: November 4, 2022
First decision: January 5, 2023
Revised: January 19, 2023
Accepted: February 13, 2023
Article in press: February 13, 2023
Published online: March 6, 2023
Processing time: 118 Days and 3 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is an autoimmune disease that leads to irreversible valve damage and heart failure. Surgery is an effective treatment; however, it is invasive and carries risks, restricting its broad application. Therefore, it is essential to find alternative nonsurgical treatments for RHD.

CASE SUMMARY

A 57-year-old woman was assessed with cardiac color Doppler ultrasound, left heart function tests, and tissue Doppler imaging evaluation at Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University. The results showed mild mitral valve stenosis with mild to moderate mitral and aortic regurgitation, confirming a diagnosis of rheumatic valve disease. After her symptoms became severe, with frequent ventricular tachycardia and supraventricular tachycardia > 200 beats per minute, her physicians recommended surgery. During a 10-day preoperative waiting period, the patient asked to be treated with traditional Chinese medicine. After 1 week of this treatment, her symptoms improved significantly, including resolution of the ventricular tachycardia, and the surgery was postponed pending further follow-up. At 3 -month follow-up, color Doppler ultrasound showed mild mitral valve stenosis with mild mitral and aortic regurgitation. Therefore, it was determined that no surgical treatment was required.

CONCLUSION

Traditional Chinese medicine treatment effectively relieves symptoms of RHD, particularly mitral valve stenosis and mitral and aortic regurgitation.

Keywords: Rheumatic heart disease; Valvular damage; Mitral stenosis; Chinese formulas; Traditional Chinese medicine treatment; Case report

Core Tip: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is an autoimmune disease. This case report describes a 57-year-old woman with a 1-year history of RHD who presented with chest tightness, palpitations, and fatigue. She was successfully treated with the modified Ling Gui Zhu Gan decoction. We discuss how this prescription became an effective treatment for RHD.