Question:

Fish-mouth appearance of the valve in rheumatic heart disease is due to which of the following?

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Chronic scarring and calcium deposits narrow the mitral orifice.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
  • Rupture of valve
  • Calcification and fibrosis
  • Hypertrophy of ventricular wall
  • None of the above
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Rheumatic heart disease causes chronic, repeated immune-mediated injury to the mitral valve.
Step 2: Over time this leads to thickening of the valve leaflets, fibrosis, commissural fusion, and calcification, with shortening and fusion of the chordae tendineae.
Step 3: The resulting narrowed, funnel-shaped orifice gives the classic fish-mouth or buttonhole appearance of mitral stenosis, so option (b) (calcification and fibrosis) is correct.
Step 4: Valve rupture (a) and ventricular hypertrophy (c) do not produce the fish-mouth orifice, making them incorrect.
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