Acute rheumatic fever in a 61-year-old patient

Abstract

The study and description of Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF) in adults is scarce as its occurrence is rare over the age of 40 years old. We describe an ARF episode in a 61-year-old woman that presented with a one-month history of retrosternal pain, dyspnea, orthopnea and nonproductive cough. Her doppler echocardiogram revealed new findings of mitral valve thickening, calcification, reduced mobility and significant regurgitation, in addition to an ejection fraction of 39% and increased left ventricular and left atrium diameters. Cardiac magnetic resonance confirmed important left ventricular systolic dysfunction and enlargement, with severe mitral regurgitation and no delayed myocardial enhancement or edema. PET/CT with 18F-FDG showed increased uptake in the left ventricular wall and papillary musculature. Endomyorcadial biopsy confirmed mild lymphohistiocytic myocarditis. Treated with Prednisone and Azathioprine, besides secondary prophylaxis with Penicillin G and prescription optimization, the patient presented significant clinical improvement on follow-up.