What are Major Factors Driving Growth of Aortic Valve Market?
Before organ transplants became a reality, almost all major diseases and health conditions carried a 100% mortality rate. The deadliest health conditions since the beginning of human history have been those of the heart. However, with the advancements in healthcare, heart transplants have become possible, which has drastically increased the average life expectancy of those with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). With time, even replacing the entire heart isn’t necessary, as just one of its components can be replaced, depending upon the actual disease.
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One of the key diseases that require aortic valve replacement is aortic stenosis, wherein the valve opening narrows, thus reducing the amount of blood exiting the left ventricle and entering the aorta. As per John Muir Health, aortic stenosis affects over 1.5 million people in the U.S. every year. The other major reason behind the increasing aortic valve replacement surgery volume is aortic regurgitation, wherein the cusps, or the leaflets of the valve, which open and close to regulate the blood flow, do not close as tightly as they should. In this case, some of the blood exiting the left ventricle leaks back into it.
While in many people, both these conditions are associated with a congenital heart defect, known as bicuspid aortic valve, calcification and scarring due to aging are their main causes. Therefore, with the United Nations (UN) forecasting the population in the age group of 65 and above to increase from 703 million in 2019 to 1.5 billion in 2030, the volume of aortic valve replacement surgeries can only be expected to rise. Similarly, another cause of aortic regurgitation is rheumatic heart disease (RHD) or rheumatic fever, which is generally a result of untreated streptococcus infection (strep throat); it affects around 33 million people globally, as per the WHO.
As such surgeries are still more-widely performed in the developed world than the developing world, Europe has been the largest aortic valve market till now. The region boasts an advanced healthcare infrastructure and favorable medical reimbursement scenario, both of which offer the masses access to valve replacement surgeries. However, the increasing geriatric population and incidence of CVDs have had a greater role to play in driving the volume of valve replacement surgeries in the region.
Hence, as more people suffer from diseases that require the aortic valve to be replaced, because of age or other reasons, the volume of such procedures will keep going up.