Juvenile tricuspid stenosis and rheumatic tricuspid valve disease: an echocardiographic study

Tricuspid valve involvement is not uncommon in patients with rheumatic heart disease and is frequently missed on routine clinical examination. We prospectively studied the echocardiographic profile of tricuspid valve disease in 788 consecutive patients with rheumatic heart disease. Out of these patients 9% (70) had tricuspid valve disease and 55.7% (39) of these were of < or = 20 years of age. Of these 60% were females and 40% were males. Their ages ranged from 9 to 64 years (mean 24.2+/-13.6 years). Of these patients, 50% had tricuspid stenosis with or without tricuspid regurgitation whereas 50% had isolated tricuspid regurgitation. Isolated tricuspid stenosis was present in 7.4% of these cases. All patients had associated mitral stenosis. Severe mitral stenosis was present more commonly in patients with juvenile tricuspid stenosis compared to older patients (94.1% vs. 55.6%, P<0.005). Mitral regurgitation was present more commonly in juvenile age group patients compared to older patients (53.8% vs. 25.8%, P<0.01). A combination of mitral, aortic and tricuspid stenosis was present in five cases and four of these were in the juvenile age group. Left ventricular enlargement and dysfunction were present in 28.6 and 14.3% patients, respectively, and the majority of these patients were in the juvenile age group (P<0.05). We conclude that rheumatic tricuspid valve disease occurs early in the course of the disease and progresses faster in India and is always associated with mitral stenosis. Juvenile tricuspid stenosis is more commonly associated with severe mitral stenosis, mitral regurgitation, left ventricular enlargement and dysfunction as compared with older patients.