Fig. 2.

Conventional aortic valve anatomy (A) is associated with a normal valve opening angle (~75°), flow jet angle (θ¹), wall shear stress (WSS), and flow displacement. Flow displacement measures the displacement of peak systolic flow (arrowhead) from the vessel centerline, and is normalized to aortic size. It is calculated by dividing the distance from centerline of peak systolic flow (d), by the aortic diameter (dotted line with brackets). The abnormal valve anatomy seen with a bicuspid aortic valve (B), here typical of right-left aortic leaflet fusion, leads to a reduced valve opening angle, increased flow jet angle (θ¹), and increased flow displacement. The increased near wall velocity gradient (region denoted by star) results in asymmetrically increased systolic WSS at the aortic convexity.