Doppler echocardiography. Role in emergency diagnosis of cardiac valve disease.

Doppler echocardiography provides crucial information in the evaluation of a patient with suspected significant heart valve dysfunction. Doppler studies can provide quantitative data on the gradients across the stenotic valves and in many cases derive the actual valve area (with use of the pressure half-time method for stenotic atrioventricular valves or the continuity equation for semilunar valves). When combined with two-dimensional echocardiographic studies, Doppler studies may discern the cause of valve dysfunction. In valvular regurgitation, semi-quantitative estimation of the severity of the problem can be obtained by pulsed Doppler flow mapping or color Doppler echocardiography. These methods show great value for rapid evaluation of valve dysfunction in the emergency setting.