Variations in the Number and Morphology of Cusps of Aortic Valve- Anatomical and Surgical Relevance

Abstract

BACKGROUNDThe human aortic valve is a vital structure and knowledge about its normal anatomy is important in detecting valve diseases and in valve replacement surgeries. The normal aortic valve has three semilunar leaflets or cusps, supported within the three aortic sinuses of Valsalva. The valve is known to exhibit anatomical variations with respect to number, shape and size of cusps, circumference and presence of fenestrations. The aim of the study is to detect and document the variations with respect to the number and morphology of the cusps of aortic valve. A prospective observational type of study on 210 random autopsy cases during a period of 6 months with age ranging from 2½ years to 89 years was conducted in the

Aortic valve fenestrations: Macroscopic assessment and functional anatomy study

“…Our present report is a unique combination of morphometrical assessments of the large population of autopsied human hearts as well as functional in vitro analyses of reanimated human hearts both studied to investigate aortic valve leaflets fenestrations. To date, during the last century, only four significant anatomical studies have investigated and reported on aortic valve fenestrations (Ashalatha & Hannah Noone, 2017; Foxe, 1929; Friedman & Hathaway, 1958; Losenno et al, 2012). A recent meta‐analysis of these studies showed the estimated prevalence of aortic valve fenestrations to be a high 55.9% in the general population (Zhu et al, 2020).…”

“…Aortic valve fenestrations, defined as an aperture/loss of tissue in the human aortic valve leaflets are common, but often overlooked entities, with unclear significances (Ashalatha & Hannah Noone, 2017; Friedman & Hathaway, 1958; Roberts et al, 2019; Whiteman et al, 2020; Zhu et al, 2020). It is estimated that they may be present in every second human, and in all age groups (Zhu et al, 2020).…”