Congenital aortic stenosis

Last revised by Daniel J Bell on 1 Jul 2023

Congenital aortic stenosis broadly refers to a congenital narrowing of the aortic lumen. Although the term can mean narrowing at any point, it often relates to a narrowing of the aortic valve. As a broad group, there can be some overlap with ascending aortic coarctation depending on the definition used.

Depending on location it can be classified into three types:

  • supravalvular stenosis

  • congenital aortic valve stenosis (commonest)

  • subvalvular stenosis

Chest radiographs can be normal or may show evidence of cardiomegaly.

Echocardiograms may show a high flow jet through the aortic valve or a narrowed segment.

Apart from showing a narrowed valve annulus and/or narrowing cross-sectional aortic segment, it may also show:

  • cardiomegaly with left ventricular hypertrophy

  • post-stenotic dilated segment of the aortic lumen

On MR imaging, velocity encoded phase-contrast cine sequences can assist in assessing the severity of the stenosis by allowing measurement of blood flow velocities and volumes 2.

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