Part I: Assessment of aortic regurgitation by noninvasive techniques

Detection and assessment of severity of aortic regurgitation by pulsed and continuous-wave Doppler techniques requires a lengthy period of examination and a high degree of expertise to approximate the sensitivity and specificity of angiography. This is a major limitation of this modality. Color Doppler, on the other hand, is less time consuming and more reproducible. However, when color Doppler is not available, conventional Doppler in the hands of an expert operator is useful for accurate detection and semiquantitation of aortic regurgitation. Also, it should be noted that color Doppler is not precise in estimation of the severity of aortic regurgitation. Color flow mapping of aortic regurgitation still remains a semiquantitative method. Thus conventional Doppler may need to be used to supplement the color Doppler examination, especially in the assessment of severity of aortic regurgitation, even when access to color flow mapping is readily available.