title: Aortic valve replacement in systemic sclerosis.
abstract: Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease of the connective tissue, which can involve the cardiac valves, the mitral valve being more frequently affected, although involvement of the aortic valve has been rarely described. We report a patient with aortic stenosis and systemic sclerosis who required aortic valve replacement. Awareness of this rare association may help to provide adequate management of such patients and prevent complications related to the underlying disease.
authors.affiliation: aSection of Cardiac Surgery bSection of Pathology, University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pratali
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pucci
authors.forename: Uberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bortolotti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000601:surgery*; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000150:complications*