Echocardiographic assessment of post stenotic aortic root dilation in patients with aortic stenosis

Post stenotic aortic root dilation is a well recognized radiographic sign of significant aortic stenosis (AS) however echocardiographic assessment of this sign has been limited. Thirty patients (pts) with significant AS (18 men, 12 women; age 59 ± 13 years) and 20 pts without AS (9 men, 11 women; age 50±18 years) were studied. Aortic root was measured in cm in transthoracic parasternal long axis view at the annulus (AA), at the level of the aortic sinus (AOS), 1.5 cm from aortic annulus (AO1) and 2 cm from the aortic annulus (AO2). Percentage of aortic root dilation (% AOD) was measured by the following formula [(A02-A0S)/A02]X100. The results (Mean±SD) were: AA A0S A01 A02 %A0D AS 2.44±0.48 3.20±0.61 3.57±0.65 3.78±0.59 31.1±9.5 No AS 2.30±0.33 2.54±0.34 2.61±0.34 2.61±0.37 11.9±6.91 p NS NS 0.01 <0.01 0.01 % AOD correlated with severity of AS with r=0.75 and p<0.01 The data provide echocardiographic confirmation of the presence of aortic root dilation in aortic stenosis and indicate the degree of aortic root dilation is related to the severity of stenosis.