When I was a medical student more than 40 years ago, aortic stenosis was almost invariably the result of rheumatic heart disease. Today, however, rheumatic aortic valve disease has almost vanished in the US. Nevertheless, aortic stenosis is still a common entity in our hospitals. What accounts for this change in the etiology of aortic stenosis and why is it still so common?
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— Joseph S. Alpert, MD
This article originally appeared in the October 2010 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
