Echocardiographic factors of aortic stenosis and left ventricular systolic function are thought to be the powerful predictors of mortality. The study recently published in the renowned journal “Heart” has identified low LVEF and low flow as the most powerful predictors of mortality. The 2012 European Society of Cardiology/ European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and 2014 ACC and American Heart Association guidelines have proposed the use of certain echocardiographic parameters and criteria to define severe aortic stenosis (AS).
These parameters included peak aortic jet velocity (VPeak) ≥4 m/s, mean gradient (MG) ≥40 mm Hg and aortic valve area (AVA) ≤1 cm2. These guidelines also recommend aortic valve replacement (AVR) when the stenosis is found to be severe and the patient develops symptoms and/or left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction, which is defined as LV ejection…
