The inaccuracy of aortic valve systolic flutter as a screening test for significant aortic stenosis

The noninvasive assessment of the severity of aortic stenosis is difficult. A recent description of systolic flutter of aortic valve leaflets as a screening test for severe aortic stenosis was applied to a group of patients who had undergone catheterization. As opposed to the previous report, we found this an inaccurate, nonspecific, and insensitive aid for the differentiation of significant versus nonsignificant aortic stenosis; and feel that its validity should be studied further before wide application.