K
KimC
All,
The New England Journal of Medicine recommends the newly released second version of Valvular Heart Disease by Dr. Catherine Otto, (Prof. of Med./Cardio.; Dir., Cardio. Fellowship Programs; Co-Dir., Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic; Assoc. Dir., Echo. Lab. at the Univ. of Washington, Seattle).
I bought the book on Amazon.com out of curiosity, as my docs have referred to the author's cumulative research on Aortic Sclerosis, which was until very recently thought to be a benign finding upon echocardiography.
Here are some key take aways on Aortic Sclerosis from the book:
-- Patints w/ AS and no known CAD have a 40% increase of MI and angina, congestive heart failure and stroke. This assoc. between AS and increased cardiovascular complications, including mortatlity persisted even when corrections for baseline factors associated with AS were considered in the model, including age, gender, hypertension, smoking, diabetes and elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
-- The mech. of the assoc. between AS and adverse clinical outcomes is not clear from the epidemiologic studies. It's unlike that AS directly causes MI or death given the normal valve hemodynamics and the absense of evidence of thrombosis at the valve leaflets.
-- Studies showing an assoc. between valve sclerosis and atherosclerosis of the aorta support the hypothesis that valve sclerosis is a subclinical marker of vascular atherosclerosis in general. Other possible mechs. deserve further consideration ... including another primary disease process such as inflammation or endothelial dysfunction ...
###
It wasn't until I found a different cardio -- a man who reads constantly and studied rare cardio. diseases at the NIH -- that I was properly diagnosed w/ AS and treated for recurring angina and cardiac asthma.
Frankly, I was skeptical about his diagnosis until I read the research myself.
Best,
The New England Journal of Medicine recommends the newly released second version of Valvular Heart Disease by Dr. Catherine Otto, (Prof. of Med./Cardio.; Dir., Cardio. Fellowship Programs; Co-Dir., Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic; Assoc. Dir., Echo. Lab. at the Univ. of Washington, Seattle).
I bought the book on Amazon.com out of curiosity, as my docs have referred to the author's cumulative research on Aortic Sclerosis, which was until very recently thought to be a benign finding upon echocardiography.
Here are some key take aways on Aortic Sclerosis from the book:
-- Patints w/ AS and no known CAD have a 40% increase of MI and angina, congestive heart failure and stroke. This assoc. between AS and increased cardiovascular complications, including mortatlity persisted even when corrections for baseline factors associated with AS were considered in the model, including age, gender, hypertension, smoking, diabetes and elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
-- The mech. of the assoc. between AS and adverse clinical outcomes is not clear from the epidemiologic studies. It's unlike that AS directly causes MI or death given the normal valve hemodynamics and the absense of evidence of thrombosis at the valve leaflets.
-- Studies showing an assoc. between valve sclerosis and atherosclerosis of the aorta support the hypothesis that valve sclerosis is a subclinical marker of vascular atherosclerosis in general. Other possible mechs. deserve further consideration ... including another primary disease process such as inflammation or endothelial dysfunction ...
###
It wasn't until I found a different cardio -- a man who reads constantly and studied rare cardio. diseases at the NIH -- that I was properly diagnosed w/ AS and treated for recurring angina and cardiac asthma.
Frankly, I was skeptical about his diagnosis until I read the research myself.
Best,
