Heart Valve Resources

When I want to read past what any one site tells me, these are the independent authorities I turn to. Each one puts out dependable, evidence-grounded material on heart valve disease and the procedures that treat it, and they are the bodies I lean on while researching an article. They sit in different countries and health systems, so reach for whichever maps onto your own.

Cardiology guidelines and professional bodies

• American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA), the joint valve guidelines that set out when a valve should be replaced and how the choice between TAVR and surgery is weighed.
• European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the European valve guidelines, produced with EACTS, covering the same decisions from a European standpoint.
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), independent assessments of valve procedures and the evidence behind them.

Understanding your condition

• British Heart Foundation, clear patient-facing explanations of aortic stenosis, heart valve disease, and what living with it involves.
• American Heart Association, plain-language guides to valve problems and the questions to take to your own team.

Procedure and treatment overviews

• Mayo Clinic, balanced overviews of aortic stenosis, TAVR, and open valve surgery, written for patients.
• Cleveland Clinic, detailed explanations of the valve procedures and what recovery from each one tends to look like.

The external links and references here are for reading alone. The rest is set out in my Medical Disclaimer.