Percutaneous therapies for aortic and mitral valvular disease

: For a few years, numerous articles and lectures were published as well as presented at major meetings on percutaneous therapies for valvular heart disease. Calcific aortic stenosis in the elderly is frequent and difficult to manage with 1/3 of patients not operated because of high surgical risks. In 2002, the first percutaneous aortic valve bioprosthesis was implanted. Since then, several hundreds of interventions were performed with 2 different valves (Cribier-Edwards, Corevalve). Preliminary results are encouraging. Regarding percutaneous mitral valve interventions, balloon valvuloplasty for stenosis is well established but treatment modalities for mitral insufficiency remain complex due to a wide disease spectrum. Therefore, development is more at a preliminary level and the window of application may be narrower, but still attractive.