Recent Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Aortic Valve Disease

Dear Colleagues,

The diagnosis and treatment of aortic valve disease, including endocarditis, are frequent tasks in daily clinical practice. The quantification of the degree of aortic valve stenosis and regurgitation relies on echocardiography. Stress tests and magnetic resonance tomography have gained importance in defining the severity of disease, and left ventricular strain may serve as an indicator that treatment is necessary. The advent of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has considerably changed the treatment of aortic valve stenosis, although surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) still plays an important role. Progress in the surgical repair of regurgitant aortic valves is comparable to progress in the field of the replacement of stenotic aortic valves, thus enabling surgeons to preserve many more regurgitant valves than was possible in earlier years. In this Special Issue, we would like to invite original clinical and basic research articles, meta-analyses, and reviews related to recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of aortic valve disease, in order to provide an overview of the state of the art in this fascinating and dynamic field.

Prof. Dr. Parwis Massoudy
Prof. Dr. Matthias Thielmann
Topic Editors