Rheumatic mitral stenosis with epistaxis as an initial symptom

Kumar S, Jain AP, Jain S
Correspondence: Dr Sunil Kumar, drsunilkr_med@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT
Epistaxis is a frequent presentation in the emergency department and often causes significant anxiety among patients and their relatives. We report a 30-year-old man with mitral stenosis presenting with epistaxis as the initial symptom. He had no other symptoms related to mitral stenosis prior to this episode. Epistaxis is a very unusual initial presentation of rheumatic mitral stenosis.

Keywords: mitral stenosis, epistaxis, rheumatic heart disease
Singapore Med J 2009; 50(2): e74-e75