Morphology of the Bicuspid Aortic Valve and Elasticity of the Adjacent Aorta in Children

Aortic distensibility in bicuspid aortic valve patients with normal aortic diameter

“…Reduced aortic distensibility in BAV patients is in line with other studies [Nistri et al 2002;Biner et al 2009]. The aortic distensibility in our BAV patients was 0.00298 ± 0.0023 versus 0.00471 ± 0.00367 in the study by Nistri and colleagues [Nistri et al 2008] and 0.00657 ±0.00 283 cm 2 dynes -1 ×10 -6 in the study by Pees and Michel-Behnke [Pees and Michel-Behnke, 2012]. Grotenhuis and colleagues, using an MRI technique, found that reduced aortic distensibility in patients with BAV increased leaflet stress and thus predisposed the patient to valve dysfunction including aortic regurgitation [Grotenhuis et al 2007].…”

“…Likewise, consistent with the finding of Pees and Michel-Behnke's study [Pees and Michel-Behnke, 2012], male gender does not have any significant effect on aortic distensibility.…”

“…Huang and colleagues who declared: 'aortic elasticity had no correlation with different BAV phenotypes' [Huang and Le Tan, 2014]. However, Pees and Michel-Behnke expressed that BAV morphology had a major role in the outcome of BAV disease so that the AP subtype is more prone to impaired aortic elasticity and the ML subtype is more likely to develop aortic valve dysfunction [Pees and Michel-Behnke, 2012]. Schaefer and colleagues also reported that BAV phenotype was an important predictor in the elastic properties and size of the aorta.…”

Three-Dimensional Evaluation of Aortic Valve Annular Shape in Children With Bicuspid Aortic Valves and/or Aortic Coarctation Compared With Controls

“…2e5 Furthermore, agreeing with the published pediatric and adult data, children in the BAV group have larger aortic annular and ascending aortic dimensions. 4,28 In a subgroup analysis of children with BAV, we found that R-N morphology is associated with valve dysfunction, which agrees with previous studies. 2,4 Although there is a trend toward more eccentric AV annuli in patients with BAV with R-N morphology, this does not reach statistical significance (p ¼ 0.061).…”

Evolution of Precision Medicine and Surgical Strategies for Bicuspid Aortic Valve-Associated Aortopathy

“…Tissue dysfunction: altered stiffness and biomechanics (Nistri et al, 2002, 2008; Schaefer et al, 2007; Pees and Michel-Behnke, 2012; Oulego-Erroz et al, 2013; Warner et al, 2013; Forsell et al, 2014; Moaref et al, 2014; Petrini et al, 2014)…”