Mitral Stenosis

Mitral stenosis is a valvular heart disease in which the opening of the heart's mitral valve narrows, typically diagnosed once the valve area falls below about 2 square centimeters, well under its normal open size of roughly 5 square centimeters. It is almost always caused by rheumatic heart disease following rheumatic fever, with valve calcification and congenital heart disease as uncommon causes, and it is the most common valvular heart disease encountered in pregnancy because the heart cannot meet the higher blood flow demands of pregnancy or exercise. It typically causes breathlessness on exertion, difficulty breathing while lying flat, waking at night short of breath, irregular heartbeat, chest discomfort, coughing up blood, and fluid buildup in the tissues and abdomen. The enlarged left atrium that results often triggers atrial fibrillation, which can lead to blood clots and stroke, making early detection and management important.