Discrete subaortic stenosis: two-dimensional echocardiographic features with angiographic and surgical correlation.

Clinical and M-mode echocardiographic features of discrete subaortic stenosis are indirect and nonspecific. Cardiac catheterization and angiography have invariably been necessary for substantiation of the diagnosis. Our experience with two-dimensional echocardiography in 10 patients with discrete subaortic stenosis indicates that this technique is more sensitive than angiography for the recognition and characterization of the obstruction. Although catheterization is superior in determining the severity of obstruction, two-dimensional echocardiography is at least as sensitivie in assessing ventricular hypertrophy and contractility and is a superior technique for appreciation of the morphologic spectrum of the lesion causing discrete subaortic stenosis.