The regurgitant volume and regurgitant orifice area as well as total peripheral resistance and arterial compliance were estimated in a cardiovascular hydromechanical simulator and in 10 patients with aortic regurgitation. A parameter estimation procedure based on a simple model of the cardiovascular system, Doppler measurements of the regurgitant jet, aortic systolic flow, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures was used. In the cardiovascular simulator the estimated regurgitant orifice area was compared with the size of a hole in the disk of a mechanical aortic valve. In the patients the regurgitant fraction was compared with semiquantitative grading from echocardiography routinely performed in our laboratory. In the hydromechanical simulator, the estimated regurgitant orifice area of 26.5 +/- 3.5 (SD) mm2 (n = 9) was not different from the true value of 24 mm2. In the patients there was a fair relationship between the estimated regurgitant fraction and the semiquantitative grading. The estimated regurgitant orifice areas varied between 1.6 and 31.2 mm2. The estimated mean values of total peripheral resistance and arterial compliance were 1.67 +/- 0.55 mmHg.s.ml-1 and 1.30 +/- 0.42 ml/mmHg, respectively.