Echocardiographic studies of abnormalities associated with coarctation of the aorta.

Echocardiograms were performed in thirty-six patients (aged 4 to 36 years) with proven coarctation of the aorta. Nineteen patients (53%) were found to have marked diastolic eccentricities of their aortic valves (Eccentricity Index greater 1.5), indicating the presence of bicuspid aortic valves. One of these patients also had multilayered aortic root echoes in diastole. Five patients had angiographic proof of their aortic valve morphologies which corroborated the echo findings. Five patients with bicuspid aortic valves showed mitral valve diastolic flutter indicative of aortic regurgitation. Idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis (IHSS) was suspected in four patients (11%) with abnormal systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve; three of these patients also had asymmetric septal hypertrophy. There was catheterization proof of IHSS in one patient. Two patients (5.6%) demonstrated mitral valve proplapse.