Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Jun 26, 2017; 9(6): 481-495
Published online Jun 26, 2017. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v9.i6.481
Assessment of aortic valve disease - a clinician oriented review
Andrei D Mǎrgulescu
Andrei D Mǎrgulescu, Faculty of General Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Bucharest 020021, Romania
Andrei D Mǎrgulescu, Department of Cardiology, University and Emergency Hospital, Bucharest 050098, Romania
Author contributions: Mǎrgulescu AD performed the literature search, prepared the figures and tables, and wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No relevant conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Andrei D Mǎrgulescu, MD, PhD, Specialist in Cardiology and Internal Medicine, Assistant Professor, Department of Cardiology, University and Emergency Hospital, 169 Splaiul Independentei, Sector 5, Bucharest 050098, Romania. andrei_marg@yahoo.com
Telephone: +40-21-3180576 Fax: +40-21-3180576
Received: October 18, 2016
Peer-review started: October 23, 2016
First decision: February 17, 2017
Revised: April 10, 2017
Accepted: May 18, 2017
Article in press: May 19, 2017
Published online: June 26, 2017
Processing time: 250 Days and 21 Hours
Abstract

Aortic valve disease [aortic stenosis (AS) and aortic regurgitation (AR)] represents an important global health problem; when severe, aortic valve disease carries poor prognosis. For AS, aortic valve replacement, either surgical or interventional, may provide definite treatment in carefully selected patients. For AR, valve surgery (either replacement or - in selected cases - aortic valve repair) remains the gold standard of care. To properly identify those patients who are candidates for surgery, the clinician has to carefully assess the severity of valve disease with an understanding of the potential pitfalls involved in these assessments. This review focuses on the practical issues concerning the evaluation of patients with AS and AR from a general cardiologist’s perspective. The most important issues regarding the documentation of the severity of AS and AR are summarized. More specific issues, such as the role of stress echocardiography, other imaging techniques and details regarding the treatment options (medical, surgical, or interventional), are mentioned briefly.

Keywords: Echocardiography; Aortic stenosis; Aortic regurgitation; Treatment; Evaluation

Core tip: Aortic stenosis (AS) and aortic regurgitation (AR) represent important health problems world-wide. This review focuses on the practical issues concerning the evaluation of patients with AS and AR from a general cardiologist’s perspective. The most important issues regarding the documentation of the severity of AS and AR are summarized, and potential pitfalls are highlighted. More specific issues, such as the role of stress echocardiography, other imaging techniques and details regarding the treatment options (medical, surgical, or interventional), are mentioned briefly.