Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging can be used for the assessment of aortic stenosis in terms of both anatomic and hemodynamic measures of stenosis severity and for evaluation of the left ventricular response to valvular obstruction. In addition, CMR-based assessment of aortic flow patterns has been implicated in poststenotic ascending aortic aneurysm development. In this issue of Circula...

The 2001 Report of the National Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths recommended that an echocardiogram should be performed on patients with aortic stenosis prior to anaesthesia. In this study we present the patient details, management and outcome of the 272 hip fracture patients with a previously undiagnosed murmur and echocardiographically proven aortic stenosis admitted from 2001-2...

Real-time, cross-sectional echocardiograms were recorded in 28 consecutive adult patients with valvular aortic stenosis using a high resolution, mechanical sector scanner. Using the cross-sectional technique, the aortic valve orifice diameter was recorded in each of the 28 patients. With M-mode echocardiographic examination of these same patients, this value could be estimated in only 21 of the...

Heyde syndrome is a triad of aortic stenosis, an acquired coagulopathy and anaemia due to bleeding from intestinal angiodysplasia. The evidence that aortic stenosis is the root cause of this coagulopathy is compelling. Resolution of anaemia usually follows aortic valve replacement. This article discusses studies linking aortic stenosis with other conditions in the triad as well as diagnosis and...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether QT dispersion is a reliable index of the severity of aortic stenosis and left ventricular hypertrophy in the setting of aortic stenosis. DESIGN A retrospective analysis of the results of echocardiography and electrocardiography before and after aortic valve replacement. SETTING Tertiary centre. PATIENTS 36 men (30 white and six black) with symptomatic aort...

We describe a Takayasu arteritis patient who was admitted because of an abdominal aortic stenosis, further complicated by the presence of a stenotic right renal artery located in the area of the aortic stenosis. After treatment of the renal stenosis with a 4 × 15 mm Driver stent, a 16 × 60 self-expandable nitinol stent (OptiMed) was deployed through the stenosis of the abdominal aorta. Even tho...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the cardiovascular findings and clinical follow-up of patients with Williams-Beuren syndrome. METHODS We studied 20 patients (11 males, mean age at diagnosis: 5.9 years old), assessed for cardiovascular abnormalities with electrocardiography and Doppler echocardiography. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to confirm the diagnosis of the syndrome. RESULT...

Abstract—Aortic stenosis is the most frequent valvular heart disease. In aortic stenosis, therapeutic decision essentially depends on symptomatic status, stenosis severity, and status of left ventricular systolic function. Surgical aortic valve replacement or transcatheter aortic valve implantation is the sole effective therapy in symptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis, whereas the ma...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Low-gradient severe aortic stenosis with preserved ejection fraction is a controversial entity. Misclassification of valvulopathy severity could explain the inconsistencies reported in the prognosis of these patients. Planimetry of the aortic area using three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography could clear up these doubts. The objectives were to assess the a...

OBJECTIVE To analyze our experience with percutaneous aortic balloon valvuloplasty in newborn infants with aortic stenosis, emphasizing the extraordinary importance of myocardial perfusion. METHODS Over a 10-year-period, 21 neonates underwent percutaneous aortic balloon valvuloplasty. Age ranged from 2 to 27 days, weight ranged from 2.2 to 4.1 kg and 19 were males. All patients presented with...