Age-related Morphological Changes in Cardiac Valves

Jagdish Butany, MBBS, MS, FRCPC, Departments of Pathology, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network and University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
Manmeet S. Ahluwalia, MBBS and Vidhya Nair, MBBS, MD, Departments of Pathology, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, ON.
Christopher Feindel, MD, FRCPC, Cardiovascular Surgery, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network and University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.

Valvular heart disease is a common cardiac problem. There are many age-associated changes that can occur in otherwise healthy heart valves. These commonly develop in the aortic valve and, to a lesser extent, in the mitral valve. In both cases there is fibrosis and thickening of the tissues with the deposition of calcium salts in the aortic valve cusps and in the annulus of the mitral valve. These changes can contribute to progressive secondary changes in the heart (left ventricle and left atrium), which can be associated with significant morbidity related to complications of valvular disease, such as congestive heart failure, infective endocarditis and sudden death.
Key words: heart valves, age-related changes, calcified aortic valve, mitral annular calcification.