Idiopathic Hypertrophic Subaortic Stenosis

In ten normal subjects, we observed an initial hump in the aortic root echocardiogram after the onset of the QRS complex, following which a sharp anterior motion was noted. The onset of the anterior motion of the aortic root coincided with the onset of the upstroke of the aortic root pressure pulse and the onset of the velocity signal in five of seven patients with coronary arterial disease; in the other two, the anterior nortic motion followed the onset of the pressure and velocity signal by 10 msec. The aortic root echocardiogrnm was abnormal in patients with idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis; the slope (normalized for the scales of time and G ramiak and Shah’ described the echocardiographic features of the normal and diseased aortic valve. Subsequent investigators have outlined the ultrasonic characteristics of various forms of aortic valvular disease.25 Strunk and associates6 described the pattern of motion of the posterior wall of the aortic root and found a good correlation between posterior aortic root motion and the left atrial angiographic area. Our report describes the morphologic features of normal motion of the aortic root, with special emphasis on the hemodynamic correlates in systole. The motion of the aortic root in normal subjects was strikingly different from that seen in patients with idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis.