Abstract
The burden of heart valve disease among adults is enormous in the developed world. Increased life expectancy and age-related valvular degeneration remain the predominant contributors to heart valve dysfunction, which if uncorrected lead to congestive heart failure and increased morbidity and mortality. Clinical evidence on the detrimental impact of valve disease on both pediatric and adult populations has fueled growing interest in diagnosis and therapy for heart valve disease, and also significant financial investment from hospitals and medical device manufacturers in hybrid operating rooms and novel medical device technologies. A wide array of surgical, minimally invasive and percutaneous heart valve technologies are available today, which have significantly enlarged the surgeon's armamentarium, and revolutionized the traditional role of a surgeon in correcting such lesions. Amid this revolution in heart valve technologies, we present recent advances in heart valve therapies, critically appraise their clinical need, and finally discuss the clinical experience and outcomes of some of these technologies. The expected outcome of this review is to provide the clinical reader with a reasonable scientific basis to enable appropriate adoption of these technologies into their clinical practice. (Circ J 2011; 75: 1028-1041)
