This Focus Issue on valvular heart disease contains the State of the Art Review article “ESC/EACTS vs. ACC/AHA guidelines for the management of severe aortic stenosis” by Grace Lee from the Temerty Faculty of Medicine in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues.

The authors note that aortic stenosis (AS) is a serious and complex condition, for which optimal management continues to evolve rapidly.

An understanding of current clinical practice guidelines is critical to effective patient care and shared decision-making.

This State of the Art Review compares recommendations for AS based on the evidence to date.

The authors conclude that sortilin promotes CAVD by mediating valvular fibrosis and calcification, and a newly identified phenotype (IMO-VIC). This is the first study to examine the role of sortilin in valvular calcification and it may render it a therapeutic target to inhibit IMO-VIC emergence by simultaneously reducing inflammation, fibrosis, and calcification, the three key pathological processes underlying CAVD.

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