Diagnosing Aortic Stenosis
February 26th, 2008
I just received an email that reads, “Adam – I just saw in your story that you had aortic stenosis resulting from a congenital bicuspid aortic valve. How did you go about diagnosing aortic stenosis?”
Interestingly enough, my aortic stenosis was not diagnosed at birth even though I had a two-cusp, aortic heart valve. That’s right, my doctors missed the heart murmur. It was not until I was five years old that my general physician detected my problematic valve and then took steps to formally diagnose my heart defect.
Today, diagnosing aortic stenosis is achieved through one or more medical tests. The Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic suggest there are several tests a cardiologist can perform to evaluate and to diagnose aortic stenosis. Here are some of the tests used in diagnosing aortic stenosis:
- Electrocardiogram
- Chest X-Ray
- Cardiac Catheterization
- Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE)
- Radionuclide Scans
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
As you can infer from the bullet-points above, most of the exams used to diagnose heart valve disorders (including aortic valve stenosis) are non-invasive and painless.
I hope that helps you better understand how aortic stenosis is diagnosed.
Keep on tickin!
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| About The Author: Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. This unique book integrates clinical research with the personal experiences of 135 former patients to help future patients and their caregivers better understand the problems, the opportunities and the realities of heart valve surgery. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here. |
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