Can you be too old to have aortic valve surgery?

It depends: The most common aortic valve problem is aortic stenosis and it most commonly occurs in people in their 70's or older. Thus it is a condition of the elderly and when it is severe, the only solution is surgical aortic valve replacement. There is no absolute age cutoff for considering surgery but the overall health of the person has to be considered and the older one is, the riskier the surgery is.

Other options: Non-surgical aortic valve implantation is (as of july 2011) still an experimental but promising option. The cedars-sinai heart institute had the largest number of patients in the us undergo this new technique with very encouraging results. As more experience with the technique builds, it might allow older and sicker patients to be helped who previously were not candidates for surgery.