[Antibodies to polysaccharides of group A Streptococcus in patients with rheumatism after mitral commissurotomy].

Gel precipitation was employed to detect antibodies to the A-polysaccharide specific antigenic determinant in blood serum of 131 patients with different versions of rheumatic fever. 21 patients with non-rheumatic myocarditis, 25 convalescents following quinsy, and 58 donors. It was established that high titers of antibodies to A-polysaccharide in patients with protracted and latent rheumatic fever correlate with the clinical and morphological signs of the process activity. Elevation of the antibody titers after mitral commissurotomy made to 107 patients was recorded only in those with exacerbation or activation of rheumatic fever. During the first year after mitral commissurotomy as well as at the preoperative period, the titers of antibodies to A-polysaccharide in patients with protracted rheumatic fever were higher than in those with latent and inactive disease patterns.