1. Pathological validation of auscultation of the elderly heart.
- Author
-
Denham MJ, Pomerance A, and Hodkinson HM
- Subjects
- Aged, Aortic Valve pathology, Blood Pressure, Heart Failure etiology, Humans, Mitral Valve pathology, Phonocardiography, Heart Auscultation, Heart Valve Diseases pathology
- Abstract
Systolic murmurs present in 129 geriatric patients followed to post-mortem were assessed as mitral or aortic in origin by simple clinical assessment alone. Post-mortem examination contradicted clinical findings in only 2% of cases. Mitral valve pathology, mostly post-inflammatory scarring or mucoid degeneration, was present in 50% of the cases with murmurs. There was a significant correlation between the presence of murmurs, particularly mitral murmurs, and congestive cardiac failure, and there was also a significant correlation with age. A tendency for aortic systolic murmurs to be associated with a higher mean systolic blood pressure was not significant and there was no significant association between systolic murmurs and ischaemic heart disease.
- Published
- 1977
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