What is the most common cause of mitral stenosis?

What is the most common cause of mitral stenosis?

• A. Rheumatic heart disease
• B. Calcific degeneration
• C. Infective endocarditis
• D. Degenerative calcification

Answer: (A)

Mitral stenosis is most commonly caused by rheumatic heart disease. After episodes of rheumatic fever, the mitral valve undergoes inflammatory fibrosis that thickens the leaflets and fuses the commissures and chordae, progressively narrowing the valve orifice. This pattern of damage remains the leading cause worldwide because the fibrotic, commissural fusion profile is classic for rheumatic involvement of the mitral valve. In contrast, calcific degeneration tends to occur in older individuals as a degenerative process and is less frequent as the primary cause overall; infective endocarditis mainly causes vegetations and regurgitation rather than isolated stenosis; and degenerative calcification can narrow the orifice but does not usually predominate as the chief etiology. On echocardiography, rheumatic MS often shows thickened, asymmetric leaflets with commissural fusion and reduced mitral valve area, sometimes described as a doming appearance during diastole.

Mitral stenosis is most commonly caused by rheumatic heart disease. After episodes of rheumatic fever, the mitral valve undergoes inflammatory fibrosis that thickens the leaflets and fuses the commissures and chordae, progressively narrowing the valve orifice. This pattern of damage remains the leading cause worldwide because the fibrotic, commissural fusion profile is classic for rheumatic involvement of the mitral valve. In contrast, calcific degeneration tends to occur in older individuals as a degenerative process and is less frequent as the primary cause overall; infective endocarditis mainly causes vegetations and regurgitation rather than isolated stenosis; and degenerative calcification can narrow the orifice but does not usually predominate as the chief etiology. On echocardiography, rheumatic MS often shows thickened, asymmetric leaflets with commissural fusion and reduced mitral valve area, sometimes described as a doming appearance during diastole.