ABSTRACT
The technique of echocardiography has become popular for the diagnosis of a variety of diseases of the heart and heart valves. The technique is noninvasive and produces no side effects. The use of echocardiography has been extensive for evaluation of valvular diseases, rather than for analysis of the dynamics of the normal aortic valve. Two-dimensional echocardiography offers an advantage over M-mode echocardiography because it identifies cardiac anatomy. Using M-mode as well as two-dimensional echocardiography, it is possible to determine whether the aortic valve leaflets have a thrombotic or calcified mass associated with them. The motion of the aortic valve is assessed by studying the change in distance between the reflecting surface of the valve and the transducer. The aortic valve can be affected by several types of diseases such as valvular endocarditis, leaflet calcification, leaflet atherosclerosis, valvular stenosis, valvular regurgitation, and leaflet prolapse, to name some.
