Left ventricular diastolic function was studied in 11 patients with coronary artery disease. Single plane ventriculography (30 degrees right anterior oblique projection) was performed at rest and during an episode of angina immediately after a period of rapid atrial pacing. Left ventricular pressure was recorded simultaneously by a micromanometer tipped catheter. The ventriculograms were digiti...

an elevated pulmonary artery pressure (pap) from any cause is associated with increased mortality, especially in cases of primary pulmonary arterial hypertension (pah). one of the many reasons behind a bad prognosis is the inherent difficulty in assessing right ventricular (rv) function with reproducible methods. intensive research involving the left heart has made it relatively easy to assess ...

AIMS Left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) is a suboptimal measure of ventricular function. Recent mathematical modelling of left ventricular contraction has shown that the EF is determined by both myocardial shortening (strain) and by end-diastolic wall thickness. Increasing end-diastolic wall thickness resulted in augmented radial wall thickening. This may result in a significant 'overestim...

Patients with valvular heart disease often have left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. This review summarizes the underlying mechanisms for diastolic dysfunction in patients with mitral and aortic valve disease. In addition to load, intrinsic myocardial abnormalities occur related to changes in sarcomeric proteins, abnormal calcium handling, and fibrosis. Echocardiography is the initial modali...

AIMS To study the clinical value of the colour-M-mode slope of the early diastolic left ventricular filling phase (Vp) and the early diastolic downward M-mode slope of the left atrioventricular plane displacement (EDS), compared with diastolic function assessed by traditional Doppler evaluation. METHODS AND RESULTS In 65 consecutive patients EDS and Vp were compared with a four-degree traditi...

Left ventricular systolic and diastolic function were studied before and after surgical revascularization in a group of 24 patients with stable angina who all had an excellent clinical response to surgery. With use of micromanometer left ventricular pressure measurements and ventricular volumes, calculated from biplane cineangiograms, left ventricular function at rest and during exercise before...

Left ventricular function was assessed by angiographic methods in 40 patients (ages 3-27), 1-12 years following repair of tetralogy of Fallot. Twenty of the 40 patients (group A) had a satisfactory repair with a pulmonary-systemic flow ratio (Qp/Qs) less then or equal to 1.5 and a right ventricular systolic pressure of less than or equal to 60% of the left ventricular value. The other 20 patien...