Calcific aortic stenosis is a progressive disease that resultsin stiff valve leaflets with eventual obstruction to left ventricularoutflow. Once symptoms occur, valve replacement is the onlyeffective treatment, and there are no known therapies to preventdisease progression. However, several lines of evidence suggestthat calcific valve disease is not simply due to age-relateddegeneration but, rather, is an active disease process withidentifiable initiating factors, clinical and genetic risk factors,and cellular and molecular pathways that mediate disease progression.
The key initiating factor in the development of calcific aorticstenosis appears to be mechanical stress. Specifically, a . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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From the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle.
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Calcific Aortic Stenosis
Pazianas M., Rossebø A. B., Pedersen T. R., Kesäniemi Y. A., Otto C. M.
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N Engl J Med 2009;
360:85-86, Jan 1, 2009.
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This article has been cited by other articles:
Pazianas, M., Rossebo, A. B., Pedersen, T. R., Kesaniemi, Y. A., Otto, C. M.
(2009). Calcific Aortic Stenosis. NEJM
360: 85-86
[Full Text]
Schoen, F. J.
(2008). Evolving Concepts of Cardiac Valve Dynamics: The Continuum of Development, Functional Structure, Pathobiology, and Tissue Engineering. Circulation
118: 1864-1880
[Abstract][Full Text]
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