AORTIC STENOSIS —CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS AND COURSE OF THE DISEASE

Abstract

AS REASONABLY safe and effective surgical procedures for correction of - aortic stenosis are being developed,* diagnostic and prognostic criteria must be redefined. The clinician must be able to arrive at an anatomical and functional diagnosis of the type and degree of valvular defect, and, faced with a patient at a particular stage of his disease, he must try to give a medical prognosis in order that this may be weighed against the operative risk and postoperative prognosis. The present study was undertaken in order to determine to what extent the degree of aortic stenosis and the course of the disease could be predicted from clinical symptoms and signs. MATERIAL AND PLAN OF STUDY One hundred fifty-six cases of aortic stenosis came to autopsy at the Mallory Institute of Pathology, Boston City Hospital, between Jan. 1, 1943, and Nov. 20, 1952. One hundred six of these were found to have pure