Is there any proven link between Rheumatic fever & Cardiac artery disease thru inflammation?
Rheumatic fever is a disease caused by autoimmune reaction against the tissues of heart valves. Although the coronary arteries are usually not affected by the inflamation, the destruction or functional impairment of the valves will,left untreated, lead to cardiac hypertrophy, insufficient flow through the coronary arteries and to pathologic changes with the same outcome as in coronary atherosclerosis, i.e. ischemic changes of the myocardium combined with the direct effect of volume and/or pressure overload of the heart chambers.
