To study the relationship between left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and the decision to perform
aortic valve replacement, the correlates of undergoing valve replacement were studied in 56 asymptomatic or mildly
symptomatic patients with isolated severe chronic aortic regurgitation (AR) undergoing exercise radionuclide angiography.
The need for valve replacement was not indicated on clinical grounds, because symptoms were either mild
or absent. Of a variety of noninvasive laboratory variables, stepwise logistic regression analysis showed the rest
LVEF to be the best correlate of performing valve replacement. Valve replacement was performed in 24 (43 %) of the
patients including 5% of AR patients with rest LVEF of 0.50 or more, 40% of patients with rest LVEF of 0.41-0.49,
and 88% of patients with rest LVEF of 0.40 or less, p < 0.001. Of the 20 patients within the intermediate rest LVEF
range of 0.41-0.49, the 8 undergoing valve replacement had a similar rest LVEF, but a lower exercise LVEF and
older age, compared to the 12 not undergoing valve replacement. In conclusion, rest LVEF alone strongly correlates
with the decision to perform valve replacement in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic AR. In the higher and lower
LVEF ranges, the rest value is the best correlate of whether the patient will have surgery and little or no additonal
information is provided by exercising the patient. Only in the intermediate LVEF range is this decision unpredictable
by the rest value. Physicians appear to consider rest LVEF a powerful prognosticator as evidenced by the
decision-making patterns observed.