ACQUIRED BICUSPID AORTIC VALVES

Abstract

A recent survey of 3,500 consecutive autopsies at the Institute of Pathology of the University Hospitals of Cleveland revealed 8 cases of acquired bicuspid aortic valve. This paper comprises a study of these cases, with especial reference to the cause and significance of the acquired bicuspid aortic valve. <h3>REPORT OF CASES</h3><h3>Case 1.</h3> —A 41 year old white man had clinical diagnoses of endocarditis lenta and aortic stenosis and insufficiency. There was no history of rheumatic fever, although the patient was told by a physician thirteen years prior to admission that he had heart disease. The heart was enlarged and revealed a systolic thrill at the base, a loud, harsh systolic murmur and a diastolic murmur over the aortic area and a systolic murmur at the apex. The heart weighed 490 Gm. There were coarse fibrous adhesions between the aorta and the pulmonary artery, in the atrioventricular sulcus and between