What are the treatments for aortic stenosis?

If the narrowing is mild and you have no symptoms, then you may not need any treatment. If you develop symptoms or complications, various medicines may be advised to ease the symptoms. However, surgery is usually advised in most cases when symptoms develop.

Medication

Medication may be advised to help ease symptoms of heart failure if heart failure develops. For details see separate leaflet called 'Heart Failure'. For example:

• ACE Inhibitors are medicines which help to reduce the amount of work the heart does and can ease symptoms of heart failure.
• Diuretics (water tablets) usually help if you are breathless. They make the kidneys produce more urine. This gets rid of excess blood and fluid which may build up in the lungs or other parts of the body with heart failure.

Surgical treatments

The possible options include the following:

• An operation to widen the valve (valvotomy). This requires open heart surgery.
• Valve replacement. This also requires open heart surgery. The replacement may be with a mechanical or a tissue valve. Mechanical valves are made of materials which are not likely to react with your body such as titanium. Tissue valves are made from treated animal tissue such as valves from a pig.
• Stretching the stenosed valve (balloon valvuloplasty). This is an option that is sometimes considered. This does not require open heart surgery. How it is done is a thin tube called a catheter is inserted into the main blood vessel in the top of the leg. It is passed up to the heart. The tip of the catheter is placed in the aortic valve opening. A balloon at the tip of the catheter is then inflated to stretch the narrowed valve. However, for adult patients. balloon valvuloplasty tends to be used only in those who are unsuitable for valvotomy or valve replacement surgery. This is because the improvement in the flow across the valve following balloon valvuloplasty does not usually last for very long. Valvotomy or valve replacement surgery tend to give better long-term results.

If you need surgery, a surgeon will advise on which is the best option for your situation.