Francois Manson, MD.

Fécamp, France.

Case report

The following images show a case of bicuspid aortic valve. This was suspected during prenatal ultrasound, with no sign for valvular stenosis or regurgitation. No other anomaly was found. The diagnosis was confirmed after the birth of and healthy newborn.

In our experience, dilatation of the aortic root seems to be a good feature of aortic valve anomalies such as the bicuspid valve, aortic stenosis etc.

Images 1, 2: Image 1: Continuation between the left ventricle and the aorta: Note the dilatation of the ascending aorta (*) compared with the aortic ring. Image 2: Dilatation of the ascending aorta (this feature was the one that attracted attention during the routine scan).

Images 3, 4: Image 3: Color Doppler aspect of the aortic root: there is no evidence of aliasing. Image 4: Normal speed of the trans-valvular flow (less than 100 cm/sec) without any regurgitation.

 

Image 5: Magnified aspect of the aortic ring. Note the two parallel echoic line (arrows) representing the “only” 2 aortic semilunar valves.