Assessment of Aortic Stenosis Severity: A Multimodality Approach

Abstract

Severe aortic stenosis (AS) is associated with a progressive cardiac remodeling that ultimately leads to heart failure and death if the valve is not replaced. The confirmation of AS severity is therefore crucial to adequately manage patients with AS. Transthoracic echocardiography is the first-line examination to confirm AS severity, but it may be inconclusive in discordant cases. In this setting, AS severity should be confirmed using a multimodality imaging approach. This review gives an overview of how to assess and/or confirm AS severity, especially in case of discordance.

Keywords: Aortic stenosis; Aortic valve calcification; Calcium scoring; Computed tomography; Echocardiography; Multimodality imaging.