The most common early symptoms of mitral stenosis

Mitral stenosis is a blockage of blood flow caused by various reasons, and rheumatic fever is a common cause of mitral stenosis. Mitral stenosis is the most common disease, and its early symptoms are very obvious, which can be seen from the patient's facial symptoms. The patient may also experience difficulty breathing.

1. Facial symptoms

Patients with mitral stenosis often have the so-called "mitral face", which is characterized by cyanosis of the cheeks, dull complexion, and mild cyanosis of the lips. It is due to low cardiac output, pulmonary congestion and vasoconstriction, which leads to cyanosis of the cheeks and lips. At the same time, the superficial veins in the zygomatic area react more obviously than normal.

2. Difficulty breathing

Dyspnea is the most common early symptom of mitral stenosis. The patient's first episode of dyspnea is often triggered by exercise, mental stress, infection, or atrial fibrillation, and is first accompanied by exertional dyspnea. As the stenosis worsens, dyspnea at rest, orthopnea, and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea may occur, and even acute pulmonary edema may occur.

3. Cough

Patients with mitral stenosis often cough, which is related to the congestion and edema of their bronchial mucosa leading to bronchitis and the enlargement of the left atrium compressing the left main bronchus. Hoarseness may occur in patients with mitral stenosis because the enlarged left atrium and artery compress the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. In severe mitral stenosis, sudden massive hemoptysis is the first symptom, which may also manifest as bloody sputum or pink palladium foamy sputum.

4. Others

Mild stenosis may be asymptomatic, and only cause symptoms such as palpitations and shortness of breath during heavy physical labor. Patients with more severe stenosis may experience exertional dyspnea. In severe cases, patients may be unable to lie flat or have paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea or sit-up breathing. There may be cough, hemoptysis, blood in sputum, pulmonary infarction, and thromboembolism. Hoarseness occurs due to compression of the recurrent laryngeal nerve by the enlarged left atrium, and difficulty swallowing occurs due to compression of the esophagus. When right heart failure occurs, there may be poor appetite, abdominal distension, pain and swelling in the liver area, nausea, vomiting, oliguria, edema, etc.