Morphologic characteristics of aortic valve sclerosis by transesophageal echocardiography: importance for the prediction of coronary artery disease.

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Abstract

Aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) is associated with myocardial infarction and mortality. Since it is not cost effective to test all patients with AVS for coronary artery disease (CAD), the identification of high-risk patients is important. We developed a morphologic classification system for AVS by transesophageal echocardiography and correlated the subtypes of AVS with the presence of cardiovascular disease. AVS in general was not associated with CAD. However, among patients with mixed nodular and diffuse AVS, the prevalence of CAD and previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery were higher than among those without this mixed type (p = 0.02 and 0.008, respectively). We concluded that the finding of mixed nodular and diffuse AVS identifies patients at increased risk for CAD. Thus, the echocardiographic assessment of AVS morphology is of clinical relevance.

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Association of mitral annulus calcification, aortic valve sclerosis and aortic root calcification with abnormal myocardial perfusion single photon emission tomography in subjects age < or =65 years old.

Doo-Soo Jeon, Shaul Atar, Andrea V Brasch … (2001)

We examined the hypothesis that mitral annulus calcification (MAC), aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) and aortic root calcification (ARC) are associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) in subjects age or =2) calcium (or sclerosis) deposits with diabetes or multiple (> or =2) coronary risk factors were significantly associated with abnormal SPECT in women age 55 years old (OR, 10.00) and in men age < or =55 years old (OR, 5.55). Multivariate analyses identified multiple calcium deposits as a significant predictor for an abnormal SPECT in women (p < 0.001), younger subjects age < or =55 years (p < 0.05) and the total group of subjects (p < 0.01). When coronary risk factors are also taken into consideration, the presence of multiple calcium deposits in the mitral annulus, aortic valve or aortic root appears to be a marker of CAD in men < or =55 years old and women.