Pattern of Valvular Heart Disease Valve Clinic Experience, Tripoli Medical Center, Libya (2012 - 2015)

الملخص

TValvular heart disease (VHD) represents the fourth most common cause of cardiac mortality and morbidity
worldwide. It remains a major cause of cardiac morbidity in Libyan patients, mostly from chronic sequels of
rheumatic valvular heart disease. The objective of this study is to determine the pattern of valvular heart disease and
to fill the knowledge gap of this field in Libya. This is a retrospective case series study conducted by reviewing the
medical records of 454 patients attending the Tripoli Medical Center valve clinic (TMC). A predesigned case sheet
was used to collect all relevant data and SPSS software was used in analysis. The total number of patients attending
the valve clinic from January 2012 to June 2015 were 454 patients. 73% were females and 27% were males. The
mean age was 50±17years for males and 47±16 years for females. 45% of patients lived outside the great Tripoli
area, 76.7% had rheumatic heart disease, single valve involvement was seen in 65% of the patients most commonly
the mitral valve (32% MR and 28.6% MS with different severity). The least affected valve was pulmonic valve in the
form of pulmonary stenosis (0.9%). Surgery was advised in186 patients, only 22 patients underwent surgery (12%),
43 patients refused surgical intervention (23%). 74 patients (40%) are still waiting for surgery, 19 patients (10%)
were unfit for surgery and 2 patients died. Rheumatic heart disease is still a major medical problem in Libya. Public
and patient education is needed with expansion of services to the rural areas and more medical multidisciplinary cooperations.