Chapter30 Aorta

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Chapter 30: Thoracic Aorta

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Figure 30.3.  MR GRE image through the aortic valve during systole in a 23 year-old woman with Turners syndrome shows a true bicuspid aortic valve with two separate leaflets and a cen- tral fish mouth ( arrow , A ). There is no fused raphe. CT image through the aortic valve in a 51-year-old man with shortness of breath shows a thickened and partially calcified bicuspid aortic valve ( red arrow ) with fusion of the right and left coronary cusps. Calcified and thickened soft tissue is present inferior to the valve plane ( white arrow ) indicating the fused raphe ( B ). Oblique coro- nal MR GRE in this patient demonstrates flow acceleration across bicuspid aortic valve ( red arrow , C ).

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Figure 30.4.  Unicuspid Aortic Valve. CT image transverse to the aortic valve demonstrates a single, eccentric opening/commissure ( arrow , A ), indicating an unicuspid valve. There is an associated aneurysmal dilation of the ascending aorta measuring up to 5.4 cm on coronal-oblique reformat ( double-headed arrow, B ).