[Doppler echocardiography diagnosis and classification of the degree of aortic valve insufficiency in patients with aortic stenoses and mitral valve diseases].

To test the capacity of pulsed Doppler echocardiography in the detection and quantification of aortic regurgitation, 64 consecutive patients with aortic and mitral valve disease were examined clinically and by echocardiography before cardiac catheterization. The severity of aortic regurgitation was determined angiographically (I-IV) and compared with the extent of the regurgitant jet in the left ventricle measured by pulsed Doppler echocardiography. In 15 of 64 patients neither angiography nor pulsed Doppler echocardiography showed aortic regurgitation (specificity 100%). Apart from 3 patients with poor echo quality pulsed Doppler echocardiography correctly detected aortic regurgitation in 46 of 49 patients (sensitivity 94%). Clinical examination (63%) and M-mode echocardiography (63%) were significantly less sensitive than Doppler echocardiography (p less than 0.001). The pulsed Doppler echocardiographic degree of aortic regurgitation correlated strongly with angiography (corrected contingency coefficient 0.91). In patients with severe aortic stenosis (systolic gradient greater than 50 mm Hg) aortic regurgitation I was slightly overestimated by pulsed Doppler echocardiography (p less than 0.003). Differentiation of aortic regurgitation III and IV was not possible. Mitral valve disease did not affect quantification of aortic regurgitation (n = 23).