Publication Date
11-1-2021
Journal
The Texas Heart Institute Journal
DOI
10.14503/THIJ-19-7080
PMID
34913972
Publication Date(s)
November 2021
Language
English
PMCID
PMC8788635
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
12-15-2021
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-Print
Published Open-Access
yes
Keywords
Cardiac surgical procedures, endocarditis, health services needs and demands, heart valve diseases/surgery, heart valve prosthesis implantation, Nigeria, retrospective studies, rheumatic heart disease, treatment outcome
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Surgical treatment of valvular heart disease in Nigeria, the most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa, is adversely affected by socioeconomic factors such as poverty and ignorance. To evaluate our experience in this context, we identified all patients who underwent surgery for acquired or congenital valvular heart disease at our Nigerian center from February 2013 through January 2019. We collected data from their medical records, including patient age and sex, pathophysiologic causes and types of valvular disease, surgical treatment, and outcomes. Ninety-three patients (43 males [46.2%]; mean age, 38.9 ± 10.0 yr [range, 11–80 yr]) underwent surgical treatment of a total of 122 diseased valves, including 72 (59.0%) mitral, 26 (21.3%) aortic, 21 (17.2%) tricuspid, and 3 (2.5%) pulmonary. The most prevalent pathophysiologic cause of disease was rheumatic (87 valves [71.3%]), followed by functional (20 [16.4%]), congenital (8 [6.6%]), degenerative (5 [4.1%]), and endocarditic (2 [1.6%]). All 3 diseased pulmonary valves had annular defects associated with congenital disease. Surgical treatment included mechanical prosthetic replacement of 92 valves (75.4%), surgical repair of 29 (23.8%), and bioprosthetic replacement of 1 (0.8%). We conclude that, in Nigeria, valvular disease is mainly rheumatic, affects mostly younger to middle-aged individuals, and is usually treated with prosthetic replacement.