[Classification of congenitally bicuspid aortic valve and its angiographic and surgical significance].

From January, 1978 to December, 1990, 85 patients with congenital bicuspid aortic valve underwent aortic valve replacements (AVR) with St. Jude Medical valve prosthesis. We classified congenital bicuspid aortic valve into four types. Type I (44.7%): Two cusps are situated right and left, a coronary artery arises from each related sinus of valsalva. Type II (22.4%): Type I + raphe in the right cusp. Type III (3.5%): one cusp is located anteriorly, the other posteriorly and both coronary arteries arise from anterior cusp. Type IV (29.4%): Type III + raphe in the anterior cusp. Regarding to preoperative diagnosis, aortic stenosis dominated in Type I (78.8%) and aortic regurgitation dominated in Type IV (72.0%). Implanted valve sizes were 22.2 +/- 1.8 (Type I), 23.4 +/- 1.6 (Type II) and 24.0 +/- 2.2 (Type IV). There was a significant difference between Type I and Type II, same as Type I and Type IV. Babb's method and outflow measurement method were utilized to predict the aortic annular size. However, both of them were not reliable for estimating the size of the aortic annulus in cases of aortic stenosis undergoing AVR with a 21 mm prosthesis.