A clinical and electrocardiographic method of assessing the severity of aortic stenosis

A formula was devised by Wagner et al. (1977) for calculating gradients across stenotic aortic valves by using clinical and electrocardiographic criteria for patients aged two to 21 years. A modification of this formula was used in a preliminary survey to assess gradients across stenotic aortic values in eight older patients; the findings were similar to those obtained from cardiac catheterization. This formula was subsequently used for assessing the gradient across stenotic aortic valves in a further 14 patients; a high positive correlation coefficient (r = 0.75; p less than 0.01) with findings at cardiac catheterization was obtained in 13 patients in whom both sets of figures were available. This formula should be useful in conjunction with other clinical and laboratory findings, in the non-invasive evaluation of the severity of aortic stenosis.