Objective: This study of surgical aortic stenosis characterized sex differences in left ventricular (LV) geometry and outcome.
Materials and methods: We examined 92 women and 82 men who underwent echocardiography before valve replacement for aortic stenosis.
Results: Women had a smaller cavity size (LV end-diastolic diameter 48.2 +/- 7 mm in women vs 53.6 +/- 7.6 mm in men; p = 0.0001) and higher ejection fraction (59% in women vs 54% in men; p = 0.02). LV mass was greater in men than women (300.4 +/- 88 g in men vs 250.6 +/- 85.8 g in women; p = 0.0055) but when corrected for body surface area, the difference was not significant. The prevalence of LV hypertrophy was similar in both sexes (51% in women vs 49% in men; p = 0.62). The 5-year survival was 82% in women and 79% in men (p = 0. 9).
Conclusion: Several descriptors of LV geometry differed between men and women. These differences were largely eliminated after normalizing for body surface area. No differences in surgical mortality or long-term outcome were noted.