Reflections on the Changing Aspects of Aortic Stenosis in the 21st Century

When I was a medical student 40 years ago, aortic stenosis was almost always the result of rheumatic heart disease. These days, rheumatic aortic valve disease has nearly vanished in the US. However, aortic stenosis is still quite common on the wards of our hospitals. What accounts for this change in valvular heart disease etiology, and why is aortic stenosis now so common?

The answer to the questions just posed is 2-fold…

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-- Joseph S. Alpert, MD
Editor-in-Chief, The American Journal of Medicine

This article was originally published in the April 2009 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.