Acquired heart valve pathology. An update for the millennium.

A survey of 200 surgically excised valves in 1996, from a single academic center, revealed that degenerative disease is by far the most common type of underlying pathology, both for the mitral valve and the aortic valve. This observation relates also to the fact that the vast majority of patients was 60 years or older. Post-inflammatory (rheumatic) disease was relatively rare; younger individuals with post-inflammatory valve pathology usually originated from parts in the world known to be endemic for rheumatic fever. The results further emphasize the shift in health costs related to an aging population.