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DALLAS and WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2020 Options to treat heart valve disease are expanding, allowing patients to avoid surgery when possible, according to a new joint clinical practice guideline from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. The new 2020 ACC/AHA Guideline for the Management of Patients With Valvular Heart Disease published today in the AHA s flagship journal
Circulation and in the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
About half of all people ages 65 and older have some form of valvular heart disease. If left undiagnosed or untreated in a timely fashion, valvular heart disease can become more severe and can ultimately lead to heart failure and death. Valvular heart disease can affect one or more heart valves - the structures responsible for regulating blood flow to and from the heart. The heart has four chambers for circulating blood into the heart and out to the lungs and the body, and each chamber is separated b