[Mitral valve insufficiency secondary to endocardial fibrosis associated with distomatosis]

A new case of assumed parasitic cardiac disease is reported once more; a 67 year old woman with a trematode injection presenting with mitral incompetence and left ventricular failure. Biventricular endomyocardial fibrosis predominating at the apex was diagnosed at angiography and confirmed at surgery. Mitral incompetence was related to retraction of the papillary muscles which were surrounded by fibrosis, the rest of the mitral apparatus being normal. There was no indication for endocardectomy and so, mitral valve replacement alone was performed. There are few previous reports of parasitic cardiac disease: one case of left ventricular endomyocardial fibrosis, one case of biventricular fibroplastic parietal endocarditis and one case of cardiomyopathy. This report emphasises the need for cardiac examination in patients with parasitic diseases.