Heart Valve Disease encompasses stenotic and regurgitant lesions affecting the aortic, mitral, tricuspid, and pulmonary valves, leading to pressure and volume overload, remodeling, symptoms, and progressive heart failure if untreated. This session delivers a detailed, clinically focused overview of etiology, evaluation, timing of intervention, and therapeutic options, bridging guideline recommendations with nuanced real world decision making. It serves as a practical Heart Valve Disease primer for clinicians managing valve pathology in both outpatient and hospital settings.

The description reviews common causes, including degenerative calcification, rheumatic disease, bicuspid aortic valve, myxomatous degeneration, infective endocarditis, functional regurgitation from ventricular dilation, congenital malformations, and radiation induced disease. Participants will learn how these processes alter leaflet structure, annular geometry, chordal integrity, and subvalvular apparatus function, ultimately affecting forward flow and chamber loading conditions.

A central emphasis is placed on implementing advanced heart valve disease management strategies. The session explains how to integrate physical examination findings, transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, cardiac MRI, CT, and exercise testing to determine severity, symptoms, and surgical or transcatheter timing. Participants will explore options including surgical valve repair or replacement, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, transcatheter mitral and tricuspid interventions, and management of prosthetic valves.

The content addresses special considerations such as asymptomatic severe disease, low flow low gradient aortic stenosis, secondary mitral regurgitation in heart failure, high surgical risk patients, and decision frameworks for elderly or frail individuals. Anticoagulation decisions for mechanical valves, antithrombotic strategies after transcatheter interventions, and endocarditis prophylaxis principles are also covered in depth.

Participants will also examine how comorbidities such as pulmonary hypertension, atrial fibrillation, coronary disease, renal dysfunction, and anemia influence procedural risk, recovery trajectories, and follow up strategies. Case based examples illustrate scenarios where watchful waiting with close imaging surveillance is appropriate versus situations demanding prompt intervention to prevent irreversible myocardial damage. The session emphasizes clear communication with patients and families about risks, benefits, and expected outcomes, supporting truly shared decision making.

Additional discussion focuses on post procedural follow up, including surveillance imaging, management of residual or recurrent lesions, exercise recommendations, pregnancy counselling in women with valve disease, and coordination with dentists and surgeons to minimize endocarditis risk. Practical checklists and referral pathways will equip attendees to collaborate effectively with specialized valve centers while maintaining strong continuity of care in local practice. Realistic implementation tips ensure that even smaller hospitals can align their valve care pathways with contemporary standards. Future perspectives include next generation transcatheter devices, fully percutaneous multivalve solutions, improved imaging fusion guidance, and personalized repair techniques based on three dimensional modeling. By the end of the session, attendees will understand how a coordinated valve team using a heart conference style model can individualize therapy and improve long term outcomes across the spectrum of valve pathology.