Aortic valve surgery: what is the future?

Modern surgical treatment for aortic valve disease has undergone significant improvements in all areas of this procedure. Successful treatment strategies for cardiovascular diseases have often been initiated and driven by surgeons. Radical excision of diseased tissue, repair and replacement strategies lead to long-term successful treatment of the underlying diseases and clearly improved patient outcome. In highly developed nations, valve surgery will be increasing applied in older people, with more co-morbidities and a higher incidence of concomitant coronary artery disease. Cardiovascular surgeons will be facing increased competition from the catheter-based procedures; these are already applied clinically, and their numbers will rise in near future. Right now interventional cardiologists supported by some cardiac surgeons are on their way to transform some conventional open surgical procedures into catheter-based less invasive interventions, such as valve repair and replacement. Cardiovascular surgery is undergoing a rapid transformation; socio-economic factors and recent advances in medical technology contribute to these changes. Further developments will come, and surgeons with all their expertise in the treatment of valvular heart disease need to be part of it. Cardiovascular surgeons have to adapt the exciting new approaches of transapical and transfemoral transcatheter valve implantation techniques.