Purpose :
Impaired relaxation pattern (grade 1 diastolic dysfunction) by Doppler echocardiography is known to reflect preserved left ventricular filling pressure (LVFP), while increased ratio of early diastolic transmitral flow velocity to mitral annular velocity (E/E’) indicated elevated LVFP. We evaluated the characteristics of impaired relaxation pattern with elevated E/E’ ratio.
Methods
: Eighty-eight patients (mean age 63 ± 11, 59 males) who had coronary artery disease with impaired relaxation pattern (E/A < 1) were enrolled. Echocardiography including tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) was performed. All patients underwent cardiac catheterization to investigate LV pre-A pressure (LVP
pre-A
) within 6 hours after echocardiographic measurement. Patients were divided into subjects with E/E’ < 10 (n = 71) and E/E’ ≥ 10 (n = 17).
Results
: LVP
pre-A
was well correlated with echocardiographic Doppler and hemodynamic parameters (E/E’, r = 0.536, p < 0.001; LA volume, r = 0.295, p = 0.008; EF, r = -0.234, p = 0.028). Forty (45% of total) patients had high LVFP, defined as LVP
pre-A
≥15 mmHg. Patients with E/E’ ≥10 had a significantly higher incidence of high LVFP, when compared to patients with E/E’ < 10 (88% vs 35%, p < 0.001). LA volume and LVP
pre-A
were significantly increased and EF was decreased in patients with E/E’ ≥ 10 (table 1
). However, there were no significant differences of parameters derived from transmitral inflow and transpulmonary venous flow between two groups.
Conclusions
: In patients with impaired relaxation pattern, elevated E/E’ has related to elevation of LVFP, regardless of transmitral inflow and transpulmonary indices. Therefore, impaired relaxation pattern with elevated ratio of early diastolic transmitral flow velocity to mitral annular velocity (E/E’) may have been considered as another grade of diastolic dysfunction.
Table 1
Avaliação por ecodoppler da velocidade de fluxo venoso em diferentes angulos da articulação talocrural / Assessment by echodoppler of the venous flow velocity at different angles of the talocrural joint
