Xin Lu ¹, Shoichi SENDA ², Hisashi MASUGATA ¹, Seiji SAKAMOTO¹, Katsufumi MIZUSHIGE ¹, Haruhiko SAKAMOTO ³, Hirohide MATSUO ¹

¹Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kagawa Medical University 1750-1 Ikenobe, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan, ²Department of Integrated Medicine, Kagawa Medical University 1750-1 Ikenobe, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan, ³Second Department of Pathology, Kagawa Medical University 1750-1 Ikenobe, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan

キーワード : Age , Aortic valve, Propagation speed, Scanning acoustic microscope

We used a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) to obtain images of the aortic valve and measure its ultrasonic propagation speed in 30 normal hearts from autopsy. Propagation speed was measured in selected sites with and without thickening and lesions of three segments (the tip, middle, and base) of each valve. Propagation speed in the middle and base of the aortic valve was measured in each of three layers: the fibrosa, spongiosa, and ventricularis. The SAM images clearly identified these three layers and local lesions in the aortic valve. In sites without thickening and lesions, propagation speed in the tip and fibrosa of the middle and base of each aortic valve increased significantly with age (p