Expert consensus document on the assessment of the severity of aortic valve stenosis by echocardiography to provide diagnostic conclusiveness by standardized verifiable documentation.
Andreas HagendorffFabian KnebelAndreas HelfenJan KnierimChristoph SinningStephan StöbeWolfgang FehskeSebastian EwenPublished in: Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society (2019)
According to recent recommendations on echocardiographic assessment of aortic valve stenosis direct measurement of transvalvular peak jet velocity, calculation of transvalvular mean gradient from the velocities using the Bernoulli equation and calculation of the effective aortic valve area by continuity equation are the appropriate primary key instruments for grading severity of aortic valve stenosis. It is obvious that no gold standard can be declared for grading the severity of aortic stenosis. Thus, conclusions of the exclusive evaluation of aortic stenosis by Doppler echocardiography seem to be questionable due to the susceptibility to errors caused by methodological limitations, mathematical simplifications and inappropriate documentation. The present paper will address practical issues of echocardiographic documentation to satisfy the needs to analyze different scenarios of aortic stenosis due to various flow conditions and pressure gradients. Transesophageal and multidimensional echocardiography should be implemented for reliable measurement of geometric aortic valve area and of cardiac dimensions at an early stage of the diagnostic procedure to avoid misinterpretation due to inconsistent results.
Keyphrases
- aortic valve
- aortic stenosis
- left ventricular
- transcatheter aortic valve replacement
- aortic valve replacement
- transcatheter aortic valve implantation
- pulmonary hypertension
- early stage
- ejection fraction
- electronic health record
- computed tomography
- heart failure
- advance care planning
- climate change
- blood flow
- squamous cell carcinoma
- radiation therapy
- coronary artery disease
- atrial fibrillation
- drug induced