Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents aim to present management recommendations based on all of the relevant evidence on a particular subject in order to help physicians select the best possible management strategies for the individual patient suffering from a specific condition, taking into account the impact on outcome and also the risk–benefit ratio of a particular diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. Numerous studies have demonstrated that patient outcomes improve when guideline recommendations, based on the rigorous assessment of evidence-based research, are applied in clinical practice.

A great number of Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents have been issued in recent years by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and also by other organizations or related societies. The profusion of documents can put at stake the authority and credibility of guidelines, particularly if discrepancies appear between different documents on the same issue, as this can lead to confusion in the minds of physicians. In order to avoid these pitfalls, the ESC and other organizations have issued recommendations for formulating and issuing Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents. The ESC recommendations for guidelines production can be found on the ESC website.1 It is beyond the scope of this preamble to recall all but the basic rules.

In brief, the ESC appoints experts in the field to carry out a comprehensive review of the literature, with a view to making a critical evaluation of the use of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and assessing the risk–benefit ratio of the therapies recommended for management and/or prevention of a given condition. Estimates of expected health outcomes are included, where data exist. The strength of evidence for or against particular procedures or treatments is weighed according to predefined scales for grading recommendations and levels of evidence, as outlined in what follows.

The Task Force members of the writing panels, …

Guidelines on the management of valvular heart disease The Task Force on the Management of Valvular Heart Disease of the European Society of Cardiology

ACE
: angiotensin-converting enzyme
AF
: atrial fibrillation
aPTT
: activated partial thromboplastin time
AR
: aortic regurgitation
ARB
: angiotensin receptor blockers
AS
: aortic stenosis
AVR
: aortic valve replacement
BNP
: B-type natriuretic peptide
BSA
: body surface area
CABG
: coronary artery bypass grafting
CAD
: coronary artery disease
CMR
: cardiac magnetic resonance
CPG
: Committee for Practice Guidelines
CRT
: cardiac resynchronization therapy
CT
: computed tomography
EACTS
: European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
ECG
: electrocardiogram
EF
: ejection fraction
EROA
: effective regurgitant orifice area
ESC
: European Society of Cardiology
EVEREST
: (Endovascular Valve Edge-to-Edge REpair STudy)
HF
: heart failure
INR
: international normalized ratio
LA
: left atrial
LMWH
: low molecular weight heparin
LV
: left ventricular
LVEF
: left ventricular ejection fraction
LVEDD
: left ventricular end-diastolic diameter
LVESD
: left ventricular end-systolic diameter
MR
: mitral regurgitation
MS
: mitral stenosis
MSCT
: multi-slice computed tomography
NYHA
: New York Heart Association
PISA
: proximal isovelocity surface area
PMC
: percutaneous mitral commissurotomy
PVL
: paravalvular leak
RV
: right ventricular
rtPA
: recombinant tissue plasminogen activator
SVD
: structural valve deterioration
STS
: Society of Thoracic Surgeons
TAPSE
: tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion
TAVI
: transcatheter aortic valve implantation
TOE
: transoesophageal echocardiography
TR
: tricuspid regurgitation
TS
: tricuspid stenosis
TTE
: transthoracic echocardiography
UFH
: unfractionated heparin
VHD
: valvular heart disease
3DE
: three-dimensional echocardiography

Guidelines summarize and evaluate all evidence available, at the time of the writing process, on a particular issue with the aim of assisting physicians in selecting the best management strategies for an individual patient with a given condition, taking into account the impact on outcome, as well …

Guidelines on the management of valvular heart disease (version 2012)

2014 ESC Guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of aortic diseases: Document covering acute and chronic aortic diseases of the thoracic and abdominal aorta of the adult. The Task Force for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Aortic Diseases of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Guidelines summarize and evaluate all currently available evidence on a particular issue with the aim of assisting physicians in selecting the best management strategies for an individual patient, suffering from a given condition, taking into account the impact on outcome, as well as the risk–benefit ratio of particular diagnostic or therapeutic means. Guidelines are no substitutes for textbooks, and their legal implications have been discussed previously. Guidelines and recommendations should help physicians to make decisions in their daily practice. However, the ultimate judgement regarding the care of an individual patient must be made by his/her responsible physician(s).

A large number of Guidelines have been issued in recent years by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) as well as by other societies and organizations. Because of the impact on clinical practice, quality criteria for the development of guidelines have been established in order to make all decisions transparent to the user. The recommendations for formulating and issuing ESC Guidelines can be found on the ESC Web Site (http://www.escardio.org/guidelines/rules).

Members of this Task Force were selected by the ESC to represent all physicians involved with the medical care of patients in this pathology. In brief, experts in the field are selected and undertake a comprehensive review of the published evidence for management and/or prevention of a given condition. A critical evaluation of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures is performed, including assessment of the risk–benefit ratio. Estimates of expected health outcomes for larger populations are included, where data exist. The level of evidence and the strength of recommendation of particular treatment options are weighed and graded according to pre-defined scales, as outlined in Tables 1 and 2 .

View this table:

Table 1 
Classes of recommendations



View this table:

Table 2 
Levels of evidence



The experts of the writing and reviewing panels have provided disclosure statements of all relationships they may have which …

/pdf/esc-guidelines-for-the-management-of-grown-up-congenital-542gk4n515.pdf

ESC Guidelines for the management of grown-up congenital heart disease (new version 2010).

/pdf/guidelines-on-the-management-of-valvular-heart-disease-34x2ig8vw4.pdf

Guidelines on the management of valvular heart disease (version 2012)The Joint Task Force on the Management of Valvular Heart Disease of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS)

https://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975(05)01031-3/pdf

Brendan Burke

Papers

Novel Measurement of Relative Aortic Size Predicts Rupture of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms