Fig. 1.

All patients underwent electron beam computed tomography. (A) One oblique axis was put trough the aortic valve in the coronal view of the heart. Based on this orientation an oblique view was created. (B) The second oblique axis was set in the created oblique view. Based on this orientation an axial view of the aortic valve was made. The aortic valve area (AVA) was than measured in six planes at several levels in the created axial view of the aortic valve. (C) The AVA was measured three times at each level in each phase using planimetry. The mean AVA was assessed for each phase. The phase with the maximal mean AVA was selected and was considered to be the AVA of concern