Aortic stenosis

Narrowing (stenosis) of the heart valve between the left ventricle of the heart and the aorta. This narrowing impedes the delivery of blood through the aorta to the body and makes it tough for the heart to carry out this Herculean task. A normal aortic valve has three leaflets or cusps, but a stenotic valve may have only one cusp (unicuspid) or two cusps (bicuspid), which are thick. stiff and stenotic. Some children with aortic stenosis have chest pain, unusual fatigue, dizziness or fainting. Many children have few or no symptoms. The need for surgery depends on the degree of stenosis. Although surgery may enlarge the stenotic valve the valve remains deformed and eventually may need to be replaced with an artificial one. A procedure called balloon valvuloplasty has been used in some children with aortic stenosis. Persons with aortic stenosis need medical follow-up all their lives since even mild stenosis may worsen over time and need treatment.

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aortic stenosis n a condition usu. the result of disease in which the aorta and esp. its orifice is abnormally narrow

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narrowing of the opening of the aortic valve due to fusion of the cusps that comprise the valve. It may result from previous rheumatic fever, or from calcification and scarring in a valve that has two cusps instead of the normal three, or it may be congenital. Aortic stenosis obstructs the flow of blood from the left ventricle to the aorta during systole. Breathlessness on effort, angina pectoris, and fainting may follow. The patient has a systolic murmur. When symptoms develop the valve should be replaced surgically with a mechanical prosthesis (such as a Starr-Edwards ball-cage valve) or with an aortic valve graft.

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(AS) narrowing of the aortic orifice or of the supravalvular or subvalvular regions; see also supravalvular aortic s. and subvalvular aortic s.