Recent developments in aortic stenosis

There have been several recent advances in our understanding of aortic stenosis and in its diagnosis and treatment. Aortic stenosis is now most commonly due to a bicuspid valve. Rheumatic aortic stenosis has become much less common and calcific stenosis of valves in the elderly is a rapidly increasing cause. The prognosis of patients with aortic stenosis can be largely determined by their symptoms, with a mean length of survival of 3 to 5 years for patients with angina, 3 years for patients with syncope, and only 12 to 24 months for patients with heart failure. Virtually all symptomatic patients should be operated on, even those with reduced left ventricular function. The risk of sudden death in asymptomatic adults is low, and thus surgery is generally not needed in these cases. Recently, the noninvasive diagnosis of aortic stenosis has improved dramatically with the advent of two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography. These techniques provide information on the pressure gradient and can even allow accurate estimates of valve area. Cardiac catheterization is still required, however, to determine the anatomy of the coronary arteries prior to surgery since many patients will have concomitant coronary artery disease. The newest development in the treatment of aortic stenosis is catheter balloon valvuloplasty, which is relatively safe and has shown early promise in reducing the pressure gradient across not increased to the normal range and is significantly less than that following aortic valve replacement. The long-term results of balloon valvuloplasty are still being evaluated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)