Ageing changes in human heart valves.

With the increasing number of necropsies on elderly patients, knowledge of ageing changes is becoming important for assessment of pathological findings. Few studies on these changes in human heart valves exist. Gross and Kugel (1931), des- cribing the topographic anatomy and histology, briefly mention findings in the elderly, and more recently McMillan and Lev (1964) studied ageing in 200 human hearts. Their paper dealt mainly with early changes; 44 cases were under 1 year of age, none was over 85, and only 18 were over 70.