Contemporary Imaging of Aortic Stenosis

Abstract

Degenerative or fibrocalcific aortic stenosis (AS) is now the most common native valvular heart disease assessed and managed by cardiologists in developed countries. Transthoracic echocardiography remains the quintessential imaging modality for the non-invasive characterisation of AS due to its widespread availability, superior assessment of flow haemodynamics, and a wealth of prognostic data accumulated over decades of clinical utility and research applications. With expanding technologies and increasing availability of treatment options such as transcatheter aortic valve replacements, in addition to conventional surgical approaches, accurate and precise assessment of AS severity is critical to guide decisions for and timing of interventions. Despite clear guideline echocardiographic parameters demarcating severe AS, discrepancies between transvalvular velocities, gradients, and calculated valve areas are commonly encountered in clinical practice. This often results in diagnostically challenging cases with significant implications. Greater emphasis must be placed on the quality of performance of basic two dimensional (2D) and Doppler measurements (attention to detail ensuring accuracy and precision), incorporating ancillary haemodynamic surrogates, understanding study- or patient-specific confounders, and recognising the role and limitations of stress echocardiography in the subgroups of low-flow low-gradient AS. A multiparametric approach, along with the incorporation of multimodality imaging (cardiac computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging) in certain scenarios, is now mandatory to avoid incorrect misclassification of severe AS. This is essential to ensure appropriate selection of patients who would most benefit from interventions on the aortic valve to relieve the afterload mismatch resulting from truly severe valvular stenosis.

Keywords: Aortic stenosis; Assessment; Echocardiography; Flow (or gradient); Imaging.