Carabello sign

Carabello sign / effect Brief Review Abstract: On LV (left ventricle) to aorta pull back, aortic pressure rises due to relief of the enhanced obstruction of the aortic orifice which had occurred while entering the LV in severe aortic stenosis. This is known as Carabello sign / effect. Blase A. Carabello and colleagues described the Carabello effect as the change in arterial pressure when the catheter is pulled back from the left ventricle to aorta in severe aortic stenosis.1  When the catheter tip is in the left ventricle in severe aortic stenosis, usually with valve area less than half a square centimeter, the catheter itself enhances the obstruction across the aortic valve. This leads to a fall in the aortic pressure measured by another catheter. A simplified method is to connect the side arm of the femoral arterial sheath to a pressure transducer. But if the catheter and sheath are of same size, the pressure tracing would be damped. For a good femoral pressure tracing the sheath should be at least one French size larger than the catheter. When the catheter is pulled out from the left ventricle, the aortic pressure (or femoral arterial pressure if the side arm pressure is being monitored) rises due to relief of the further worsening in critical aortic stenosis which was caused by the catheter across the aortic valve. This phenomenon which occurs in critical aortic stenosis has been called the Carabello sign or effect. Carabello himself has opined in a recent editorial in...
Source: Cardiophile MD - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Angiography and Interventions Carabello effect Carabello sign Carabello sign in severe AS severe aortic stenosis Source Type: blogs