The resurgence of rheumatic fever in a developed country area: the role of echocardiography

Abstract

Our experience underlines that ARF has not yet disappeared in industrialized countries. We observed a high incidence of chorea, always associated with mild carditis. Echocardiographic assessment should be routinely performed in all patients with suspected ARF in order to identify those subclinical cases of valvulitis that would otherwise pass undiagnosed without receiving proper prophylaxis.