[Echocardiographic patterns in discrete subvalvular aortic stenosis (author's transl)]

Abstract

Ten patients with angiocardiographic and hemodynamic evidence of discrete subvalvular aortic stenosis were examined by M-mode-echocardiography. Different echocardiographic patterns were identified: the most frequent appeared an abnormal systolic movement of aortic valve leaflets, less frequently a discrete linear echo was observed in the outflow tract of the left ventricle; in one case the echocardiogram showed no abnormality of the left ventricular outflow tract or aortic valve morphology. In half of the cases the left ventricular outflow tract was narrowed. No correlation was found between echocardiographic measurements and severity of the subaortic lesion, as expressed by peak systolic pressure difference between the left ventricle and the aorta. It is concluded that M-mode-echocardiography: - may furnish helpful criteria in the diagnosis of discrete subaortic stenosis, but the absence of such criteria does not allow to exclude the existence of the malformation; - is not quantitatively useful in the assessment of subaortic stenosis.