Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings January 2014, Volume 27, Number 1 | Page 40

weighed 1726 stenotic aortic valves: only 12 (0.7%) weighed
>8 g, and none of the other 11 patients had IE. Indeed, the
lighter the aortic valve, the greater the likelihood of its being
complicated by IE (2).
IE involving a stenotic aortic valve is far less common
than IE involving a nonstenotic aortic valve. Fernicola and
Roberts (4) studied at necropsy 96 patients with active IE
involving the aortic valve: 25 (26%) had underlying stenosis
and 71 (74%) had an underlying nonstenotic valve. Of the
25 with underlying stenosis, 21 (84%) had a ring abscess and
10 (40%) had an underlying congenitally bicuspid valve; of
the 71 with a nonstenotic aortic valve, 37 (52%) had a ring
abscess (P = 0.005) and 21 (30%), a congenitally bicuspid
valve (ns).
The patient described had two reasons for having a heavily
calcified aortic valve