A High Association of Aortic Valve Sclerosis Detected by Transthoracic Echocardiography with Coronary Arteriosclerosis

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) detected by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) has a high association with coronary arteriosclerosis. METHODS: Clinical and angiographic features and TTE findings were retrospectively analyzed in a blinded fashion for 138 consecutive patients, of whom 58 had AVS and 80 had non-AVS diseases. Both histological and immunohistochemical studies were performed on frozen aortic valve sections obtained at autopsy from 7 AVS and 3 non-AVS patients. RESULTS: AVS and coronary artery disease (CAD) had similar clinical risk factors. The AVS group had a higher positive rate of coronary angiography and a higher incidence rate of multivessel CAD than the non-AVS group. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of AVS in diagnosing CAD were 63.8, 71.3, 61.7 and 73.1%, respectively. Early lesions of AVS were characterized by accumulation of lipid and infiltration of macrophages and T lymphocytes as indicated by immunohistochemical staining. Late lesions were characterized by formation of calcific plaques, proliferation of fibrous connective tissue and immunohistochemical staining identifying a few macrophages or T lymphocytes and little lipid accumulation on the surface of aortic valve leaflets. Late lesions in the basement of aortic valve leaflets were characterized by hyperplastic granulation tissues. Three aortic valve leaflets from the non-AVS group were characterized by nonspecific thickened tips, increased collagen, no calcification, no lipid accumulation and no inflammatory cells. CONCLUSIONS: There were significant similarities in clinical risk factors, histopathological alterations of AVS and coronary atherosclerosis. AVS detected by TTE had a high association with coronary arteriosclerosis.