Guidance supporting clinicians, sonographers and service managers to standardise their approach to the follow-up and surveillance of patients with valvular heart disease is now available from GIRFT.
Valvular heart disease occurs when one or more of the heart’s valves do not function properly, affecting blood flow and potentially straining the heart, and there is increasing demand on NHS valve clinics and echocardiography services.
The new GIRFT guidance outlines a consistent, evidence-based framework to guide clinical decision-making to support more effective follow-up. It demonstrates a clear approach to the prioritisation of valve clinic outcomes, follow-up categorisation and echocardiographic surveillance intervals, based on the severity of the condition, patients’ haemodynamic status and clinical context.
Advice on clinical presentations, escalation processes and standard text responses across the four triage tiers (urgent red, red, amber and green) is also included, along with specific advice for:
- aortic stenosis (AS) of the bicuspid aortic valve;
- aortic regurgitation (AR) and mitral regurgitation (MR);
- mitral stenosis (MS);
- right-sided valve disease;
- surveillance following valve replacement and repair.
The guidance is clear that the advice should be used alongside clinical judgement, local operational pathways, and current British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) and European Society of Cardiology (ESC) valvular heart disease guidelines.
