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Previous Volume 359:1395-1398 September 25, 2008 Number 13 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Calcific aortic stenosis is a progressive disease that results in stiff valve leaflets with eventual obstruction to left ventricular outflow. Once symptoms occur, valve replacement is the only effective treatment, and there are no known therapies to prevent disease progression. However, several lines of evidence suggest that calcific valve disease is not simply due to age-related degeneration but, rather, is an active disease process with identifiable 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 aortic stenosis appears to be mechanical stress. Specifically, a . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• 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]