sul'0 consider that it originates in the aortic valve. Further recent studies have favored the valvular hypothesis.11' 12 WVe have recorded heart sounds simultaneously with hemodynamic and cineradiographic studies in a series of patients with aortic valvular stenosis in order to relate the early systolic sound to pressure changes and to movements of the aortic valve. The purpose of this paper i...

Severe aortic stenosis in pregnancy has been known to have a high maternal and perinatal mortality, documented at 17 and 32%, respectively, in 1978. More recent reviews still indicate significant maternal morbidity and unfavourable fetal outcomes. Severe aortic stenosis with or without symptoms leads the table of ‘high maternal and fetal risk’ in valvular heart disease in pregnancy. We report t...

Six patients with early systolic closure of the aortic valve are described with mitral regurgitation, double outlet right ventricle, left ventricular diverticulum, congestive cardiomyopathy, Eisenmenger ventricular septal defect, and aortic regurgitation with an aneurysmal ascending aorta, respectively. None had evidence of subaortic stenosis. Early sytolic closure of the aortic valve is thus n...

OBJECTIVE Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a novel technique used in the assessment of aortic stenosis. The aim of the study was to compare MRI and cardiac catheterization (CAT) that is still considered to be a "golden standard" in this indication. METHODS Thirty-four patients referred to CAT for the evaluation of aortic stenosis were enrolled into the study. CAT was performed according to...

Forty-one patients in whom the diagnosis of a non-stenotic bicuspid aortic valve had been established by noninvasive techniques were followed up for a mean of 10.9 years. During this period, 2 patients required aortic valve replacement because of the development of calcific aortic valve stenosis at the ages of 52 and 64 and 5 others developed evidence of mild aortic valve stenosis. The appearan...

A bicuspid aortic valve is the most common cause of isolated valvular aortic stenosis in the pediatric age group; another cause is annular hypoplasia, with the tricuspid valve being the least commonly involved. In aortic stenosis, causes of systolic dysfunction are critical stenosis, secondary fibroelastosis and noncompaction. Critical stenosis is diagnosed in the usual fashion. Secondary fibro...

Low gradient aortic stenosis can be caused by critical aortic stenosis causing left ventricular impairment or by more moderate aortic stenosis coexisting with another cause of left ventricular impairment. The main challenges are to differentiate these two states and then to determine whether the left ventricle is likely to recover after aortic valve surgery. Exhaustive echocardiography is neces...

Aortic stenosis is common and an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Prevalence will increase significantly in forthcoming decades as a function of the ageing population; treatment by means of surgery or percutaneous intervention is expensive. Epidemiological, mechanistic and interventional studies are therefore vital to determine optimal and innovative treatments and their funding. Rec...

Abbreviations: AR aortic regurgitation, AS aortic stenosis, AVA aortic valve area, CSA cross sectional area, CWD continuous wave Doppler, D diameter, HOCM hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, LV left ventricle, LVOT left ventricular outflow tract, MR mitral regurgitation, MS mitral stenosis, MVA mitral valve area, DP pressure gradient, RV right ventricle, RVOT right ventricular outflow trac...

In the American Heart Association–American College of Cardiology and European Society of Cardiology–European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery guidelines, aortic valve replacement (AVR) is considered a class I indication in patients with aortic stenosis (AS) if the stenosis is severe and the patient has symptoms or left ventricular ejection fraction <50%. Hence, accurate assessment of the...