Emergency department diagnosis of critical aortic stenosis using bedside ultrasonography

Abstract

Abstract Introduction An 88-year-old woman with a history of coronary artery disease, hypertension, and a history of a large left upper lobe lung mass presented to the Emergency Department (ED) from a nursing home with rapidly progressive shortness of breath and chest pain over 1 day with a rapid decline in mental status. Bedside color Doppler ultrasound para-sternal long-axis examination of the heart revealed severe aortic stenosis. Bedside pulsed-wave and continuous-wave Doppler ultrasound in the apical 5-chamber view revealed critical aortic stenosis using the simplified continuity equation. Conclusion Bedside ED cardiac color Doppler, pulsed Doppler evaluation of the left ventricular outflow tract, and continuous-wave Doppler of the aortic valve were used to assist in the diagnosis of critical aortic stenosis.