Calcific Aortic Valve Disease

D espite the high prevalence and severe consequences of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD), its pathogenesis remains relatively poorly understood.For many years, CAVD was considered a degenerative disease, where calcification was a consequence of normal aging.Although it is now widely accepted that CAVD is an active disease process, 1 the erroneous degenerative label contributed to delayed progress in characterizing this condition.At present, our understanding of the mechanisms governing CAVD lags far behind our knowledge of atherosclerosis, a disease to which CAVD is frequently compared.Ultimately, our incomplete understanding of CAVD pathogenesis has profound consequences: other than surgical valve replacement, there remains no treatment to stop the onset or progression of CAVD.