Preface

The assessment and management of complex valve disease have changed substantially over the past 10 years. This evolution has been fueled by simultaneous advances in diagnostic and therapeutic innovations that have offered renewed hope for one of the most common forms of heart disease in advanced societies. The goals of this volume are to highlight some of the state-of-the-art advances in valve management and to help put it into a context that is scientifically accessible to readers, students, healthcare providers, and maybe even patients and their families at all levels of understanding. While this text is by no means meant to be a definitive review of all of the revolutionary advances in aortic valve disease – as such an effort would be a tremendous undertaking spanning extensive volumes and most likely be out-of-date shortly after publication due to such rapid advances in the field – it is meant to be a foundation for building on a further understanding of where we have been, where we are, and hopefully where we are going.

The focus of this text can be divided into several key areas. First and foremost is a basic review of the latest developments in understanding aortic valve pathology. This is then followed by the outlining of some of the advanced diagnostic imaging tools to better understand the progression and natural history of aortic valve pathology. Separate chapters on different types of valve pathology – such as the association with aortic dissections and relationships to some of the complex challenges associated with univentricular congenital palliative procedures – are also reviewed. In addition, the revolution of transcatheter aortic valve therapies – again, a topic that is one of the largest areas of global students – is also discussed in the context of current options for the management of stenotic and regurgitant valves.

Many of the topics of this volume reflect areas that are constantly evolving and hopefully each chapter can serve as a basic foundation to encourage the reader to explore the references and help direct them towards the latest advances that are being discovered almost daily.

As the Editor, I wanted to thank all of the authors for the contributions to this project and to the readers for allowing all of us to help kindle a larger interest in such a complex and dynamic topic.

> **Michael S. Firstenberg** The Medical Center of Aurora, United States of America

> > **Imran Khan** Monash Medical Centre, Australia

**1**

Section 1

Aortic Valve Disease
