page_title: Aortic insufficiency
section_title: Physical examination
hierarchical_section_title: Aortic insufficiency / Diagnosis / Physical examination
caption_attribution_description: English: Aortic Valve Regurgitation vs. Aortic Valve Stenosis. See a related animation of this medical topic.
context_page_description: Aortic insufficiency, also known as aortic regurgitation, is the leaking of the aortic valve of the heart that causes blood to flow in the reverse direction during ventricular diastole, from the aorta into the left ventricle. As a consequence, the cardiac muscle is forced to work harder than normal.
context_section_description: The physical examination of an individual with aortic insufficiency involves auscultation of the heart to listen for the murmur of aortic insufficiency and the S3 heart sound (S3 gallop correlates with development of LV dysfunction). The murmur of chronic aortic insufficiency is typically described as early diastolic and decrescendo, which is best heard in the third left intercostal space and may radiate along the left sternal border.
  If there is increased stroke volume of the left ventricle due to volume overload, an ejection systolic 'flow' murmur may also be present when auscultating the same aortic area. Unless there is concomitant aortic valve stenosis, the murmur should not start with an ejection click. There may also be an Austin Flint murmur, a soft mid-diastolic rumble heard at the apical area; it appears when a regurgitant jet of blood from severe aortic insufficiency partially closes the anterior mitral leaflet. Peripheral physical signs of aortic insufficiency are related to the high pulse pressure and the rapid decrease in blood pressure during diastole due to blood returning to the heart from the aorta through the incompetent aortic valve, although the usefulness of some of the eponymous signs has been questioned: Phonocardiograms detect AI by having electric voltage mimic the sounds the heart makes.
  Characteristics- indicative of aortic regurgitation are as follow:
  Corrigan's pulse 
  De Musset's sign 
  Quincke's sign 
  Traube's sign 
  Duroziez's sign 
  Landolfi's sign 
  Becker's sign 
  Müller's sign 
  Mayne's sign 
  Rosenbach's sign 
  Gerhardt's sign 
  Hill's sign 
  Lincoln sign 
  Sherman sign
caption: Aortic valve regurgitation vs aortic valve stenosis
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