A Quadricuspid Aortic Valve That Was Misdiagnosed as Rheumatic Carditis: A 13-Year Case

Abstract

Quadricuspid aortic valve anomaly is a very rare congenital heart anomaly. Its incidence is 0.01-0.04 percent. This anomaly is characterized by the presence of four aortic valves of the same or different sizes. This may often lead to progressive aortic regurgitation or rarely aortic valve stenosis. In aortic valve evaluation with transthoracic echocardiographic, if a careful examination is not performed, the diagnosis of quadricuspid aortic valve may be overlooked or may be misdiagnosed as insidious acute rheumatic carditis. Here, we presented a 13-year-old patient with quadricuspid aortic valve who was admitted to another center with chest pain, and was mistakenly diagnosed with insidious rheumatic carditis due to the aortic regurgitation detected on his transthoracic echocardiographic examination. We aimed to draw attention to this rare congenital heart valve disease. Copyright © 2021 by Türkiye Klinikleri.