FEATURED CORRESPONDENCE

P Mathieu^1,2, P Pibarot², J-P Després^2,3

¹ Laboratoire d’Études Moléculaires des Valvulopathies (LEMV), Groupe de Recherche en Valvulopathies (GRV), Quebec, Canada
² Hôpital Laval Research Center and Department of Medicine, Laval University, Quebec, Canada
³ Division of Kinesiology, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Laval University, Quebec, Canada

Correspondence to:
Dr P Mathieu, Hôpital Laval, 2725 Chemin Ste-Foy, Quebec, Quebec, G1V-4G5 Canada; patrick.mathieu@chg.ulaval.ca

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The authors’ reply: We thank Drs Yontar and Yilmaz for their comments, which raise several important points about the metabolic factors associated with the physiopathology of aortic stenosis (AS). As they pointed out, AS is an active process for which there is so far no efficient medical treatment to alter the natural course of this disorder.¹ Therefore, mechanistic studies in this field are of crucial importance in order to develop tailored treatment for AS.

As illustrated by our recent work, oxidative stress, as estimated by the measurement of plasma levels of oxidised low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), is independently associated with remodelling of the aortic valve in patients with an end-stage process undergoing aortic valve replacement.² In this study, plasma levels of ox-LDL were related to tissue remodelling even after correction for covariates including high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol levels. Yilmaz et al have reported an association between the cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio and AS progression.³ . . . [Full text of this article]

Relevant Article

Lipoprotein levels and the progression of aortic valvular disease

O C Yontar and M B Yilmaz
Heart 2009 95: 938. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]