[Pulsed Doppler echocardiography and pharmacodynamic phonocardiography in the diagnosis of silent aortic regurgitation: a correlative study].

To determine the usefulness of pulsed Doppler echocardiography (PDE) in diagnosing aortic regurgitation (AR), the following two studies were performed. PDE and phonocardiography (PCG) were evaluated for the diagnosis of AR in 36 patients for whom angiography was performed. In 24 patients with grade 2 to 4 by Sellers' classification, all PDE studies were positive for AR (sensitivity of 100%) and PCG studies were positive in 21 patients (sensitivity of 88%). Among 10 patients of grade 1, PDE studies were positive for eight (sensitivity of 80%) and PCG studies were positive for seven (sensitivity of 70%). Angiography was negative for AR in two PCG-proven cases, and PDE also proved AR in one of these. Thus, in all patients, the sensitivity of PDE and PCG were 94 and 82%, respectively. These results indicate that AR may be missed during auscultation, or even when using the latest type PCG. The ability of detecting silent AR was studied in 160 consecutive patients with AR. PDE was positive for AR in 156 of 160 consecutive patients who were diagnosed as having AR by PDE or PCG. In the remaining four patients, three were diagnosed by PCG alone and one by pharmacodynamic phonocardiography using methoxamine (ME-PCG). On the other hand, in 137 of 160, Ar was proven by PCG, and the remaining 23 were so-called "silent AR". ME-PCG was performed for 11 cases of silent AR, but an unequivocal AR murmur was detected in only five. Therefore, the sensitivity of PDE in diagnosing silent AR was 96 percent, while that of ME-PCG was only 45 percent. Thus, compared to PCG and even pharmacodynamic PCG, PDE is a much more sensitive method of diagnosing AR. However, in mild AR cases, angiography, PDE and PCG, all have some limitations in diagnosing AR.