Aortic root and valve proportions: an example of the golden ratio?

Crystals of golden proportions

When Dan Shechtman entered the discovery awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011 into his notebook, he jotted down three question marks next to it. The atoms in the crystal in front of him yielded a forbidden symmetry. It was just as impossible as a football – a sphere – made of only sixcornered polygons. Since then, mosaics with intriguing patterns and the golden ratio in mathematics an...

Stentless Aortic Valve/Root Replacement

In-vitro, stentless valves have a larger effective orifice area than their stented counterparts. This is best exemplified by the fact that a 25-mm Mosaic valve, which is stented, is manufactured using a 23-mm Freestyle stentless valve. So, in order to end-up with similar effective orifice areas when implanting a stentless valve or a stented valve in the same size left ventricular outflow tract,...

Valve-sparing aortic root replacement.

The aortic root has a unique 3-dimensional configuration and the distinctive function of supporting the aortic valve and blood vessels. The sinuses of Valsalva are crucial to create appropriate eddy currents that are important in initiating and coordinating aortic valve closure and promoting coronary artery blood flow. Most aneurysms in the aortic root are associated with degenerative changes i...

Aortic root imaging in the era of transcatheter aortic valve implantation/transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Valve-sparing aortic root replacement and aortic valve repair in a patient with acromegaly and aortic root dilatation

Aortic regurgitation and dilatation of the aortic root and ascending aorta are severe complications of acromegaly. The current trend for management of an aortic root aneurysm is valve-sparing root replacement as well as restoring the diameter of the aortic sinotubular junction (STJ) and annulus. Our case report supports the recommendation that in patients with acromegaly, severe aortic root inv...