Research Information System
The American Journal of Cardiology, vol.64, no.19, pp.1392-1394, 1989 (SCI-Expanded)
Rheumatic endocarditis produces the verrucous valvulitis of acute rheumatic fever, which leads to serious permanent cardiac lesions. While the initial insult to the mitral valve is rheumatic, subsequent changes may be nonspecific. They can result from trauma to the valve caused by altered flow patterns due to the initial deformity or other reasons not yet known. In this respect, changes in the metabolism of some elements including calcium, zinc, magnesium, iron and copper may have unestablished functions in the disease process. This work intends to evaluate that hypothesis. Although calcium has many vital functions in the body, experimental1,2 and clinical3 studies have shown that high intracellular calcium levels can cause damage to muscle. Several studies have emphasized the significant role of hypercalcemia in cardiac valvular4,5 and mitral anular6-8 calcification. To our knowledge, no investigation between quantitative calcium levels of heart valve and heart muscle and valve calcification has been reported. We performed such a study to establish possible correlations between the calcification process and quantitative calcium levels of heart valve and heart muscle. © 1989.