left heart diseases that are more prevalent than diseases of the pulmonary or tricuspid valve in the right heart due to the higher pressures in the left heart.

Stenosis of the aortic valve is characterized by a thickening of the valvular annulus or leaflets that limits the ability of blood to be ejected from the left ventricle into the aorta. Stenosis is typically the result of valvular calcification but may be the result of a congenitally malformed bicuspid aortic valve.