Targeted therapy to prevent progression of calcific aortic stenosis.

Calcific aortic valve disease is common, affecting 25% of adults over the age of 65 years, with progression to severe valve obstruction resulting in more than 50 000 aortic valve replacements annually in the United States. “Degenerative” calcific aortic valve disease was thought for many years to be a passive accumulation of calcium binding to the aortic surface of the valve leaflet. Now, convincing data indicate aortic stenosis is an active disease process with a distinctive histological appearance, associated clinical factors, and variable disease progression, which suggests this disease may be amenable to medical therapy to prevent or slow disease progression.