Diagnosis and management of aortic valve stenosis in patients with heart failure

Abstract

Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most frequent degenerative valvular heart disease in Western countries and its prevalence increases in parallel with the ageing process of the population. Heart failure (HF), defined by the presence of reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, may be present in up to a quarter of patients with severe AS, posing diagnostic and management challenges. The present article reviews the prevalence of HF in severe AS patients, discusses the diagnostic challenges and the advances in multimodality imaging to identify the patients that may benefit from surgical or transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and summarizes the current evidence on management for this group of patients.

Keywords: Aortic stenosis; Heart failure; Multi-detector computed tomography; Stress echocardiography; Transcatheter aortic valve replacement.