Neuer Therapieansatz bei Aortenklappeninsuffizienz

Aortic regurgitation (AR) has a prevalence of 2.2% in elderly people. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is usually performed to evaluate AR. Importantly, TTE is often impaired by adverse sonographic conditions and may lead to underestimation of AR severity. Therefore, transesophageal echocardiography is essential. Untreated AR is associated with high mortality. Aortic valve replacement improves survival but was limited to patients deemed operable. Recently the JenaValve has been proven to be safe and effective, thus enabling interventional treatment of older and multimorbid patients.