[Indication and timing of heart valve surgery - summery of the European guidelines].

Most common heart valve diseases in western industrialized nations are the aortic valve stenosis and the mitral valve regurgitation. More seldom are a regurgitation of the aortic valve and mitral valve stenosis. Even more seldom are heart valve diseases of the Tricuspid and the pulmonary valve. The only curative therapy in severe heart valve disease is a surgical intervention. The timing is crucial for the outcome. Especially in asymptomatic patients it's difficult to find the right point of time for intervention due to missing realization of the health status. In 2013, the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published guidelines according to the therapy in heart valve disease. Here we want to summarize the recommendations of these guidelines in regards of timing of the surgical intervention.