New frontiers in the pathology and therapy of heart valve disease: 2006 Society for Cardiovascular Pathology, Distinguished Achievement Award Lecture, United States–Canadian Academy of Pathology, Atlanta, GA, February 12, 2006

This review summarizes several areas relative to the pathology of heart valve disease in which there has been rapid and ongoing evolution, namely, our understanding of: (a) the dynamic functional biology of cardiac valves; and (b) the pathology/pathobiology of valvular heart diseases; (c) new developments in valve repair and substitution using percutaneous approaches; and (d) progress toward the exciting potential of therapeutic valvular tissue engineering and regeneration, including the challenges that will need to be overcome before such therapeutic advances can become clinically useful.