Valvular disease in the elderly

As patients survive to advanced age, they commonly develop degenerative valvular heart disease as well as degenerative diseases of other organ systems. In addition, a reservoir of patients with other forms of valvular heart disease develop progressive symptomatology with advancing age. These patients often present a challenge to the cardiologist in both diagnosis and management. Inasmuch as these patients tolerate cardiovascular surgery less well than their younger counterparts, criteria for surgical intervention may often need modification. Chronologic age must be recognized as but one of many factors affecting physiologic function. Knowledge of aging-related alterations in function must be employed in both diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms. At times, input from other health-care providers who specialize in the care of the elderly may assist in the assessment of these patients. Surgery should be reserved for higher-risk patients who are severely symptomatic or for those in whom severe symptoms are likely to soon develop based on the natural history of the disease process involved. Those less symptomatic elderly patients with otherwise preserved physiologic functions also may be offered valvular surgery. The availability of nonsurgical, albeit at times palliative, techniques to relieve aortic or mitral stenosis provides an alternative therapeutic option to cardiothoracic surgery. Advances in understanding the pathophysiology and medical therapy of heart failure will continue to contribute to an improved quality of life for those for whom only medical options exist.