Aortic valve stenosis and lipid-lowering therapy: the state of the art.

Aortic valve stenosis is the most common native valve disease and its most common cause in the United States and Europe is the calcification of a normal trileaflet. Recently, there is increasing evidence indicating that valve calcification has common underlying mechanisms with atherosclerosis. This connection raises interest in the potential efficacy of antiatherosclerosis medications in calcific valve stenosis (AS) therapy. Among them statins, are one of the most promising candidates, because of their pleiotropic effects. The aim of this review is to summarize and analyze the findings of contemporary studies and to discuss the rationale for statin usage in AS populations.