Pathological Biomineralization in the Calcific Aortic Valve

The prevalence of moderate to severe calcific aortic valve stenosis in patients ≥75 years old is 2.8% and only 40% of patients with surgical indication undergo aortic valve replacement because of high perioperative risk, older age, lack of symptoms, and patient/family refusal [1]. In the absence of hemodynamically significant left ventricular (LV) outflow obstruction, calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) prevalence raises up to 25% in patients aged from 65 to 74 years old [2,3] and independently predicts cardiovascular (CV) event, overall and CV mortality.