The year in cardiology 2017: valvular heart disease

A new joint European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons (EACTS) guidelines on management of valvular heart disease (VHD) was published in 2017. 1 These guidelines are more focused, and are linked to the upcoming ESC textbook.The main changes concern the role of transcatheter valve treatment, indications for surgery as well as medical therapy.The guidelines present a new concept of Heart Valve Centres with recommended requirements, including multidisciplinary teams with competencies in various interventions and diagnostic techniques for VHD, the availability of important collaborative services, standardized processes and recording of performance data. 2 Some of changes in the latest guidelines are highlighted in this article.