Affiliation:
1. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
2. Sichuan University, China
3. Tongji University, China
Abstract
This chapter gives an overview of heart valve diseases, their diagnostics techniques, and current and future treatments with particular emphasis on the elder generation. It starts with a brief presentation of anatomy of the heart and its valves and the effect of aging on the function of the heart. Subsequently the projection of the global older population is given, and the most common and frequently occurring valvular heart diseases including aortic regurgitation, aortic stenosis, and aortic sclerosis are presented and discussed. Moreover, the current heart valve replacement techniques using mechanical or bio-prosthetic valves and the complications associated with the use of these artificial heart valves are presented and discussed. The chapter ends with a full account of the risk of mortality associated with the operation of heart valve replacement for older patients and the future directions for heart valve implementation using the tissue engineering concept.