Valvular Heart Disease in Women, Differential Remodeling, and Response to New Therapies

Opinion statementIn the United States, valvular heart disease (VHD) has a prevalence of 2.5%, most commonly presenting as aortic stenosis (AS) or mitral valve regurgitation (MR) and increasingly observed to be of a degenerative etiology. Women frequently have latent symptoms despite significant disease, and it is therefore pertinent to consider both clinical symptoms and imaging findings for decision-making on treatment. Indeed, significant advances have been made in noninvasive imaging allowing for more accurate diagnosis and disease prognostication. While echo remains the standard diagnostic test, multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provide complementary information on aortic valve calcification and left ventricular (LV) function, respectively. For any given calcification load or increase in calcification density of the aortic valve, women have greater increase in aortic valve stenosis severity than men; thus, moderate AS in women warrants closer attention. MRI allows identification of different patterns of hypertrophy and remodeling, extent of LV fibrosis, and insights into differential reverse remodeling and clinical outcomes in men and women. In conjunction with surgical treatment, percutaneous technologies are being increasingly used in the management of VHD. Nearly 50% of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) are women. In high- or intermediate-risk subjects with significant symptomatic AS, TAVR has ...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research