THE AORTIC SYSTOLIC MURMUR DEVELOPING WITH INCREASING AGE

Abstract

In 300 patients over the age of 50 of a general ward population (who did not have well recognized valvular disorders), systolic murmurs of grade 2 intensity or above were heard in 146 (49%), being heard at both the apex and aortic area in 110 cases. Phonocardiography in 33 instances revealed that the murmur was short, occurred early in systole and tended to be "spindle" or "diamond" shaped. In a concurrent study of 168 subjects who came to necropsy, 120 showed some thickening of the cusps of the aortic valve; this thickening appeared to originate in the aortic aspect of the base of the cusp causing it to project into the lumen. In 18 of 23 cases of the original 300 without a hyperkinetic circulation who came to necropsy, there seemed to be some correlation between the intensity of the murmur and the degree of thickening of the aortic valve leaflets.