title: Posterior thoracic echocardiography for assessment of native and prosthetic aortic valves in the presence of pleural effusion.
abstract: Many patients with aortic stenosis have difficult imaging windows due to advanced age, kyphosis, prior chest surgeries, radiation-induced skin changes, or hyperinflated lungs from pulmonary disease. Here we describe 4 cases to illustrate that in a subset of patients with pleural effusion, a posterior imaging approach can be used to obtain diagnostic images for native and prosthetic aortic valves. In these cases, nondiagnostic transthoracic echocardiographic images were obtained from conventional imaging windows, leading to inaccurate or incomplete assessment of the aortic valve. In all cases, images obtained from a posterior thoracic approach provided important additional diagnostic information.
authors.affiliation: FRCP(UK), MMM, Mayo Clinic, 13400 E Shea Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 95259 USA. naqvi.tasneem@mayo.edu.
authors.forename: Ming-Sum
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Tasneem Z
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Naqvi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D056888:Patient Positioning / Q000379:methods*; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: aortic stenosis; echocardiography; pleural effusion; prosthetic aortic valve; vascular ultrasound