OBJECTIVES: Guidelines have recommended aortic valve surgery in asymptomatic @entity1 with severe @entity472 and a large aortic valve @entity460 burden. The purpose of this study was to determine whether visual assessment of aortic valve @entity460 and @entity850 severity are reliable based on 2-dimensional echocardiography alone. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 68 @entity1 with @entity472 and compared them with 30 control @entity1 without @entity472 . All had aortic valve @entity460 score assessment by computed tomography. In a random order, 2-dimensional images without hemodynamic data were independently reviewed by 2 level 3-trained echocardiographers, who then classified these @entity1 into categories based on aortic valve @entity460 and @entity850 severity. RESULTS: The 68 @entity1 (mean age    SD, 74    10 years) were classified as having mild (n = 28), moderate (n = 22), and severe (n = 18) @entity472 . When the observers were asked to grade the degree of @entity7874 , the agreement between them was poor (k = 0.33-0.39). The visual ability to determine @entity850 severity compared with Doppler echocardiography had high specificity (81% and 88% for observers 1 and 2). However, sensitivity was unacceptably low (56%-67%), and the positive predictive value was poor (44%-50%). Agreement was fair (k = 0.58-0.69) between the observers for determining severe @entity850 . CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that visual assessment of aortic valve @entity460 has high interobserver variability; the visual ability to determine severe @entity472 has low sensitivity but high specificity. Our results may have important implications for treatment of @entity1 with @entity472 and guiding the use of handheld echocardiography. Further research with larger cohorts is needed to validate the variability, sensitivity, and specificity reported in our study.

Visual Estimation of the Severity of @entity472 and the XXXX Burden by 2-Dimensional Echocardiography: Is It Reliable?

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participants', 'patients'] @entity850 :: ('MESH:D003251', 'Disease') :: ['stenosis'] @entity7874 :: ('MESH:C562942', 'Disease') :: ['valve calcification'] @entity460 :: ('MESH:D002118', 'Chemical') :: ['calcium'] @entity472 :: ('MESH:D001024', 'Disease') :: ['aortic stenosis']
@entity460 :: (MESH:D002118,Chemical) :: ['Calcium']
