title: Prospective validation of detection and quantitative assessment of chronic aortic regurgitation by a combined echocardiographic and Doppler method.
abstract: To establish the accuracy of Doppler echocardiography in the assessment of chronic aortic regurgitation (AR), 87 patients were included in a two-step prospective study. In a first consecutive series of 56 patients, two-dimensional directed M-mode echocardiography and pulsed wave Doppler (PWD) studies were performed within a 24-hour interval of a conventional contrast aortic angiography, which showed AR in 46 patients. Sensitivity and specificity of PWD in the detection of AR were both 100%. To quantitate AR, a left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) PWD mapping was scored. Significant differences between 1, 2, and 3 to 4 angiographic grades of AR were obtained. As some overlap existed between groups, a multifactorial analysis of PWD and echocardiographic measurements was performed: optimal discrimination was obtained when a new score combining LVOT mapping by PWD, diastolic left ventricular diameter, and aortic root dimension was considered. A prospective validation of this combined echocardiographic-Doppler method was then applied on a second group of 31 catheterized patients with AR. Correlation obtained (r = 0.86; p less than 0.001) confirmed the accuracy of this new method in the prediction of the severity of AR.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu, i Sant Pau, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Borrás
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carreras
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Augé
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pons-Lladó
mesh_terms: D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D001027:Aortography; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D004452:Echocardiography; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012214:Rheumatic Heart Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity