The Gallavardin phenomenon is a
clinical sign
Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than normal, raised or lowered blood pressure or an abnormality showin ...
found in patients with
aortic stenosis. It is described as the dissociation between the noisy and musical components of the systolic
murmur heard in aortic stenosis. The harsh noisy component is best heard at the upper right sternal border radiating to the neck due to the high velocity jet in the
ascending aorta
The ascending aorta (AAo) is a portion of the aorta commencing at the upper part of the base of the left ventricle, on a level with the lower border of the third costal cartilage behind the left half of the sternum.
Structure
It passes obliqu ...
. The musical high frequency component is best heard at the
cardiac apex. The presence of a murmur at the apex can be misinterpreted as
mitral regurgitation
Mitral regurgitation (MR), also known as mitral insufficiency or mitral incompetence, is a form of valvular heart disease in which the mitral valve is insufficient and does not close properly when the heart pumps out blood. . However, the apical murmur of the Gallavardin phenomenon does not radiate to the left
axilla and is accentuated by a slowing of the
heart rate (such as a compensatory pause after a
premature beat) whereas the mitral regurgitation murmur does not change.
The sign is named after
Louis Gallavardin Louis Gallavardin (1875, Lyon – 2 December 1957, Lyon) was a French physician and cardiologist remembered for the Gallavardin phenomenon.
Biography
Louis Gallavardin studied medicine at the Lyon medical school, becoming ''interne'' in 189 ...
, having been described by Gallavardin and Ravault in 1925.
[Dale Berg, Katherine Worzala. ''Atlas of adult physical diagnosis'', page 85. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006. ]
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References
Symptoms and signs: Cardiac
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