[Diagnostic value of mitral and septal echocardiographic changes in aortic valve insufficiency]

116 patients with aortic regurgitation of different severity with and without associated valvular lesions were studied with echocardiography. In all cases the diagnosis was proven by cardiac catheterisation. Typical fluttering of the anterior mitral valve leaflet and the interventricular septum were oftener observed with increasing degree of severity of aortic regurgitation. An associated fluttering of the posterior mitral valve leaflet is described. This is seen with increasing severity of the valvular lesion and in more than 90% of patients with severe aortic regurgitation as it is observed with the anterior mitral leaflet. An isolated fluttering of the interventricular septum was observed in two cases and is also regarded as a specific finding in aortic regurgitation. There was a significant higher pulse pressure in patients with fluttering of the anterior mitral leaflet and/or the interventricular septum than in those cases without fluttering. Fluttering of mitral leaflets in aortic regurgitation was seen even in patients with additional mitral stenosis with and without calcification and after commissurotomy. A premature mitral valve closure was noted in one of 93 cases, an incomplete diastolic aortic valve closure in 29 of 78 cases. The diastolic diameter of the aortic root was mildly increased in 17 patients with pure aortic regurgitation. In 8 patients, mostly with severe aortic regurgitation, the E-F-Slope of the anterior mitral leaflet ranged between 120 and 160 mm/sec. The presented findings do not allow a conclusion regarding the severity of aortic regurgitation. However, they do allow the echocardiographic diagnosis of aortic regurgitation with a high degree of accuracy, in particular in cases of fluttering.