Open AccessSignificance of echocardiographic left atrial enlargement in aortic stenosis
Author(s) -
Chandraratna P. A. N.,
Aronow M. S.,
Aronow W. S.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960051002
Subject(s) - medicine , left atrial enlargement , cardiology , stenosis , body surface area , cardiac catheterization , aortic valve stenosis , aortic valve , diastole , atrial fibrillation , blood pressure , sinus rhythm
This study investigated the significance of echocardiographic left atrial enlargement as measured by the left atrial dimension corrected for body surface area in 24 patients with pure aortic stenosis established by cardiac catheterization. Echocardiographic evidence of left atrial enlargement occurred in 11 of 15 patients (73%) with an aortic valve area below 0.8 cm 2 and in none of nine patients (0%) with an aortic valve area above 0.8 cm 2 , p < 0.0025. All 11 patients (100%) with an enlarged left atrial dimension had an increased diastolic left ventricular dimension, whereas 1 of 13 patients (8%) with a normal left atrial dimension had an increased diastolic left ventricular dimension, p < 0.00001. The 11 patients (100%) with an enlarged left atrial dimension had increased posterior left ventricular wall thickness, whereas 2 of 13 patients (13%) with a normal left atrial dimension had increased posterior left ventricular wall thickness (p < 0.0005). These data lead one to conclude that in patients with pure aortic stenosis, echocardiographic evidence of left atrial enlargement as measured by an increased left atrial dimension corrected for body surface area should lead one to suspect severe aortic stenosis.