Open AccessThe heart valve clinic at the heart hospital in Doha, Qatar: An evidence-based standard of care
Author(s) -
Alessandro Salustri,
Salah El Badri,
Abdul Haleem Shawky,
Hakam Alzaeem
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
heart views
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 0976-5123
pISSN - 1995-705X
DOI - 10.4103/heartviews.heartviews_123_17
Subject(s) - medicine , referral , multidisciplinary approach , heart valve , multidisciplinary team , intensive care medicine , heart disease , incidence (geometry) , medical emergency , valvular heart disease , emergency medicine , physical therapy , surgery , cardiology , family medicine , nursing , social science , physics , sociology , optics
The incidence of degenerative heart valve disease is rising in developing countries and diagnosis, assessment and management are becoming increasingly complex. The availability of new interventional procedures has further expanded the therapeutic armamentarium, but at the same time, it has increased the proportion of high-risk patients, in whom risk-benefit analysis and the choice of the most appropriate therapy are particularly difficult. Accordingly, international societies have recommended dedicated heart valve clinics (HVCs) to meet these needs. The HVC is a specialist outpatient clinic linked with multidisciplinary inpatient care as well as education and training. The main functions of the HVC are to confirm and refine the diagnosis of heart valve disease, follow patients and to determine the correct timing of referral to the appropriate heart valve team. We report on why an HVC was set up at the Heart Hospital in Doha, Qatar.