Systolic Murmurs

Aortic Stenosis - Severe #2 Auscultation Lesson with Recordings

Virtual Auscultation

patient torso with stethoscope chestpiece

The patient's position is sitting.

Lesson

In Severe Aortic Stenosis there is a diamond shaped systolic murmur which lasts throughout systole. The murmur is loud and higher pitched than the murmur of mild aortic stenosis. It is caused by calcification of the aortic valve leaflets. There is a fourth heart sound heard in late diastole (just before the first heart sound). This is caused by the increased left ventricular wall thickness and stiffness. S1 is normal. S2 is louder than normal. In fact, you are hearing only the accentuated pulmonic component of S2 due to heart failure on the left side. The aortic ejection click heard in mild cases of valvular aortic stenosis is gone. In the anatomy video you can see the greatly thickened left ventricular wall and the almost totally immobile aortic leaflets.

Waveform

Heart Sounds Video

Authors and Sources

Authors and Reviewers

Heart sounds by Dr. Jonathan Keroes, MD and David Lieberman, Developer, Virtual Cardiac Patient.
Lung sounds by Diane Wrigley, PA
Respiratory cases: William French
David Lieberman, Audio Engineering
Heart sounds mentorship by W. Proctor Harvey, MD
Special thanks for the medical mentorship of Dr. Raymond Murphy
Reviewed by Dr. Barbara Erickson, PhD, RN, CCRN.
Last Update: 12/11/2022

Sources

Heart and Lung Sounds Reference Library Diane S. Wrigley
Publisher: PESI
Impact Patient Care: Key Physical Assessment Strategies and the Underlying Pathophysiology
Diane S Wrigley & Rosale Lobo
Practical Clinical Skills: Lung Sounds
Essential Lung Sounds Diane S. Wrigley, PA-C
Published by MedEdu LLC
PESI Faculty - Diane S Wrigley
Case Profiles in Respiratory Care 3rd Ed, 2019
William A.French
Published by Delmar Cengage
Essential Lung Sounds by William A. French
Published by Cengage Learning, 2011
Understanding Lung Sounds Steven Lehrer, MD
Clinical Heart Disease W Proctor Harvey, MD
Clinical Heart Disease
Laennec Publishing; 1st edition (January 1, 2009)