[Echocardiography in the preoperative diagnosis of acquired heart valve diseases]

With the aim of minimizing the risk and stress of an invasive diagnostics, 102 patients with acquired heart valve diseases were examined by two-dimensional echocardiography combined with pulsed Doppler technique. The results were compared with those obtained at invasive diagnostics in 91 and/or during surgery in 52 of the patients studied. In the group of operated patients the sensitivity of non-invasive diagnostics was 89.5%, specificity 97.2%; analogous data for patients not subjected to surgery were 91.8% and 93.8%, respectively. The results of the study show that in the majority of patients with acquired valvular disease a complete preoperative invasive investigation is not necessary. Only in patients over 50 years of age the intended valve replacement should be preceded by additional coronarographic examination, as in 6.8% of cases--even without kinetic disturbances at rest--a haemodynamically important stenosis was found on at least one coronary artery.