Doppler echocardiographic assessment of prosthetic aortic valve function. Findings in normal valves.

To determine the Doppler-derived aortic flow velocity profiles in relation to type of prosthetic valve and left ventricular function, 70 patients with normal functioning aortic prosthetic valves (group 1 = 44 patients with low-profile mechanical valves and group 2 = 26 patients with high-profile mechanical valves) were evaluated. Peak flow velocity and mean systolic gradient were inversely related to valve size (r = -0.72; r = -0.76) in group 1. On the other hand, aortic flow velocity profiles had significant correlations with left ventricular end-systolic dimension (r = 0.75; r = 0.76) and left ventricular fractional shortening (r = -0.69; r = -0.66) in group 2. Thus, aortic flow velocity profiles in the low-profile mechanical valve were affected by pressure gradient caused by the valve size, whereas the hydromechanical disadvantage of the high profile mechanical valve affected the left ventricular pump function and Doppler-derived flow velocity profiles.