Pharmacological Therapy for Regurgitant Valve Lesions: Does It Really Work?

Dr. Jeffrey Borer from the SUNY Downstate Medical Center moderated the topic "Medical Therapy for Regurgitant Valve Lesions: Do They Really Work?" with Drs. Blase Carabello from the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Dr. Mark Starling from Banner Heart Hospital participating.

The discussion focused primarily on:

(1) potential effects of pharmacological unloading therapy in aortic and mitral regurgitation,

(2) the differences in potential effects in these two diseases,

(3) clinical trial data available to support conclusions,

(4) potential utility of vasodilating and other heart failure therapy prior to planned surgery for patients with regurgitant valve disease and heart failure,

(5) potential importance of adverse actions of specific vasodilators that could compromise theoretical benefits,

(6) potential roles of drug therapies for problems other than volume overload that may be associated with regurgitant valve diseases, including prophylaxis for infective endocarditis, among others.

(Med Roundtable Cardiovasc Ed. 2010;1(3):182-189) ©2010 FoxP2 Media, LLC

*Dr. Starling was unable to attend the live discussion and subsequently inserted his commentaries.