Calcareous aortic valve stenosis: With particular reference to its etiology

Abstract

Seventeen cases of calcareous aortic valve stenosis without mitral valve deformity are compared with twenty-two cases of calcareous aortic valve stenosis in which there was an associated lesion of the mitral valve of rheumatic origin. Patients under fifty years of age, women, histories of rheumatic fever, and instances of pericarditis were scarce in the former group and numerous in the latter. In the cases of pure aortic valve stenosis the calcification in the valves was most pronounced at the base of the cusps, whereas in some cases in the other group it was more marked at the free edges of the cusps. A slightly higher incidence of arteriosclerosis of the aorta and coronary arteries was found in the cases of uncomplicated aortic valve disease. Calcareous aortic valve stenosis is not always rheumatic in origin. In some cases the etiology of the lesion is probably of the nature of an arteriosclerotic degeneration.