[Pulsed Doppler echocardiographic detection of regurgitant blood flow in the ascending, descending and abdominal aorta of patients with aortic regurgitation].

To ascertain whether the presence of retrograde holo-diastolic flow (RHF) in the ascending, descending or abdominal aorta is indicative of the severity of aortic regurgitation (AR), ascending, descending and abdominal aortic flow velocities were measured by pulsed Doppler echocardiography in 35 patients with AR and in 18 patients without AR, confirmed by aortography. Among the 35 patients with AR, 15 had mitral regurgitation, 11 had mitral stenosis, eight had aortic stenosis, five had prosthetic mitral valves, four had prosthetic aortic valves and two had aorto-pulmonary shunts. Satisfactory flow velocity recordings were obtained from the ascending aorta of 47 patients (89%), from the descending aorta of 39 patients (74%) and from the abdominal aorta of 43 patients (81%). In the ascending aorta, 30 of 32 AR patients with satisfactory recordings had RHF, while only one of the 15 patients without AR had RHF. None of the patients without AR had RHF, in either the descending or abdominal aorta. In the descending aorta, all 11 patients with 3+ or 4+ AR independently determined by aortography had RHF, while only three of 16 patients with 1+ or 2+ AR had RHF. Two of the three patients had aorto-pulmonary shunts. In the abdominal aorta, all 11 patients with 3+ or 4+ AR had RHF, while only one of the 22 patients with 1+ or 2+ AR had RHF. The latter patient had an aorto-pulmonary shunt. Identification of RHF in the descending or abdominal aorta is a useful means of distinguishing patients with severe AR from those with minimal or no AR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)