Disease of the heart valves is increasingly common and frequently requires treatment, usually a combination of drug therapy and surgery to repair or replace the valve. The majority of valvular heart disease occurs in older people, and is due to degenerative disease of the valve tissue. Understanding how to diagnose, investigate and manage patients with valvular heart disease is a core skill for a wide range of doctors, including cardiologists, cardiac surgeons,
general physicians, general surgeons and anaesthetists. Furthermore valvular heart disease can occur in younger patients and can be particularly challenging to diagnose and treat in pregnant women. New
advances in cardiology mean a range of valvular heart disease can be treated with percutaneous procedures avoiding the need for full cardiac surgery. This unique text covers all these aspects of valvular heart disease, including normal valve anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, modes of investigation, assessment and treatment of specific valve lesions, valve surgery (both medical and surgical aspects), treatment in special situations such as pregnancy or during
non-cardiac surgery, and the devastating complication of infective endocarditis, in an easy to read, accessible format. It contains over 150 high quality pictures and illustrations, providing contemporary
diagnostic imaging (including conventional radiography, echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging) to demonstrate the use of imaging in diagnosis and treatment. Individual valve lesions are reviewed in turn with specific indications for intervention in line with current European guidelines.