Echocardiography of the Normal and Diseased Aortic Valve

Abstract

Echocardiography studies of the normal aortic valve and the valve involved by disease were accomplished with pulsed ultrasonic techniques and extended recording by oscilloscope record camera. In aortic stenosis, normal cusp architecture was obscured by a thick multilayered echo pattern usually heavier than that of the aortic wall. Occasionally, these echoes persisted through systole and diastole, in others, a systolic break occurred. A good correlation existed between this abnormal echo pattern and radiological, surgical, or pathological evidence of valve cusp calcification which, in the absence of normal systolic cusp motion, is a reliable indication of aortic stenosis.