Assessment of aortic regurgitation by transesophageal color Doppler imaging of the vena contracta: validation against an intraoperative aortic flow probe.

Objectives: This study was performed to validate the accuracy of color flow vena contracta (VC) measurements of aortic regurgitation (AR) severity by comparing them to simultaneous intraoperative flow probe measurements of regurgitant fraction (RgF) and regurgitant volume (RgV).

Background: Color Doppler imaging of the vena contracta has emerged as a simple and reliable measure of the severity of valvular regurgitation. This study evaluated the accuracy of VC imaging of AR by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE).