Echocardiographic assessment of aortic stenosis.

Abnormal thickening and limited or eccentric mobility of the aortic leaflets were used as indicators of the aortic stenosis (AS). The magnitude of ventricular hypertrophy in response to afterloading was determined by wall stress, with wall thickness. Measures of the echocardiographic internal dimensions of the left ventricle, wall thickness and circumferential fiber shortening (Vcf), were able to characterize left ventricular function in 13 patients with AS. In moderate and severe AS with normal left ventricular function, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (Dd) was normal, posterior wall thickness (Wt) increased and myocardial contraction (Vcf) was normal. In patients with left ventricular failure, Dd was increased and myocardial contraction markedly depressed. Echocardiography is a noninvasive method for estimating the severity of aortic stenosis and it appears to be more sensitive than other currently employed techniques.