The Bicuspid Aortic Valve Aortopathy Mystery Continues: Are we that Mediocre?

Although the bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) was described over five-hundred years ago by Leonardo da Vinci[1], its association with a clinical aortopathy was not recognized until 1928 when Canadian physician Maude Abbott reported on 200 patients with untreated aortic coarctation[2]. In that seminal work, Dr Abbott found the BAV associated to aortopathy in 2 ways: As a risk for infective endocarditis in these patients, and as a common congenital feature in patients with coarctation and ascending aorta rupture, which led her to argue “for a congenital weakness of the [aortic]wall just above the cusps, as the probable cause of rupture”[2].
Source: Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research