Pattern and severity of rheumatic valvular lesions in children in Khartoum, Sudan

We determined the pattern and severity of valvular involvement in 100 Sudanese patients with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in 2 centres in Khartoum in 2003. All the patients underwent history taking, physical examination and Doppler echocardiography. The commonest lesions were mitral regurgitation (84%) and aortic regurgitation (40%). Mitral stenosis alone was uncommon (9%) which could be due to a low detection rate related to the slow stenotic process and the subtle early signs. This, together with the inconsistent history of rheumatic fever, may lead to an underestimate of the prevalence of RHD. There was a strong correlation between severity of the lesion and irregular prophylaxis (P 0.001).