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Degenerative Calcific Valvular Disease and Systolic Murmurs in the Elderly
Author(s) -
WONG MAYLENE,
TEI CHUWA,
SHAH PRAVIN M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1983.tb04855.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiology , abnormality , heart murmur , valvular heart disease , mitral valve , prospective cohort study , psychiatry
By use of echocardiography and radiologic imaging, a prospective study was made of 98 elderly men, 65 to 102 years old, to define degenerative calcific valvular disease (DCVD)—its prevalence, morphologic features, functional significance, and relationship to systolic murmurs in the elderly. DCVD was diagnosed in 74 per cent of the group and murmurs were detected in 55 per cent, the incidences increasing with age. Fibrotic and calcific change of the aortic valve was the most common abnormality, occurring alone or together with alteration of the mitral valve. The murmurs were characteristically early systolic, of low intensity and medium pitch, and heard at more than one area. Of the group with valve degeneration, only 7 per cent was judged to be functionally significant and no more than moderate. It was concluded that DCVD is the cause of most systolic murmurs in the elderly and is usually hemodynamically unimportant. Echocardiographic criteria are important in identifying those subjects with possibly significant valvular dysfunction requiring invasive study.