Aortic insufficiency in chronic renal failure

A diastolic decrescendo murmur was heard along the left sternal border in 21 patients with advanced renal failure. Eight patients had organic aortic insufficiency. Among the remaining 13 patients, angiocardiography was carried out in 6; aortic regurgitation was demonstrated in 4, while 2 had stenosis of a coronary artery. Two of the 5 patients with positive angiography have died. At autopsy the aortic ostium was normal. The diastolic murmur in these patients is thought to be functional. It disappears during treatment with hemodialysis and renal transplantation.