How is a bicuspid aortic valve diagnosed?

How is a bicuspid aortic valve diagnosed?

A bicuspid aortic valve may be diagnosed during pregnancy through a cardiac prenatal ultrasound. Other times, it’s diagnosed when a child has other heart problems that cause symptoms. Testing then reveals the bicuspid aortic valve.

But other people go many years without knowing they have this condition. The first sign may be a heart murmur that your provider hears through a stethoscope. After that, your provider may run imaging tests to check your heart structure and function.

Tests to diagnose a bicuspid aortic valve

Your provider may run the following tests to check your heart and diagnose a bicuspid aortic valve:

• Echocardiogram (echo).
• Transesophageal echocardiogram.
• CT scans.
• Heart MRI.