BACKGROUND Peak early-diastolic mitral annulus velocity (e') by tissue Doppler imaging has been introduced as a clinical marker of diastolic function. This study investigates whether lengthening load (early-diastolic load) and restoring forces are determinants of e' in addition to rate of left ventricular (LV) relaxation. METHODS AND RESULTS In 10 anesthetized dogs, we measured e' by sonomicr...

BACKGROUND The newly developed percutaneous heart valve (PHV) implantation technique decreases transaortic pressure gradient in patients with aortic stenosis. PHV replacement effects on left ventricular (LV) global and regional systolic function are currently unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS Eight patients with severe aortic stenosis had 2D echocardiography at baseline and 24 hours after PHV impl...

PURPOSE To detect and investigate details in left ventricular (LV) motion patterns with a temporal resolution comparable to that of echocardiography. MATERIAL AND METHODS To assess global and regional myocardial motion in high temporal detail, respiratory-gated MR phase-contrast measurements with three-directional velocity encoding (venc) were performed in 12 healthy volunteers and two patien...

BACKGROUND Abnormalities in left ventricular (LV) relaxation and/or increased filling pressures are indicators of LV diastolic dysfunction in patients with hypertension (HTN). The purpose of this study was to assess clinical use of pulsed wave Doppler, Doppler tissue imaging (DTI), and color M-mode (CMM) indices for determination of diastolic function in patients with HTN. METHODS In all, 278...

BACKGROUND We undertook a cross-sectional study to test the hypothesis that patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who have impaired left ventricular (LV) diastolic function are insulin resistant. We also evaluated the relation between the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) and insulin resistance (IR) in patients with HCM. METHODS AND RESULTS Eighty-eight patients with HCM (71 m...

Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and LV diastolic dysfunction are common cardiac changes in hypertensive patients, and these changes are modified by various factors other than blood pressure. The present study was conducted to investigate the influence of mild abnormalities in glucose metabolism on LV structure and function in essential hypertension. In 193 nondiabetic patients with treated es...

Our understanding of left ventricular (LV) function and its description using echocardiographic techniques continues to evolve. From measurement of systolic function by ejection fraction, Tissue Doppler parameters are now used to evaluate systolic and diastolic function in the shortand long axis. However, it is now recognized that LV function also involves twisting or torsion. LV torsion result...

Background Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) provides noninvasive measures of diastolic left ventricular (LV) function by assessing mitral inflow and mitral annular motion. Given the excellent spatial and temporal resolution of CMR, we developed a novel method to calculate several correlative measures of diastolic and systolic LV function. The maximum velocity of the atrioventricular junctio...

Aim To find out if Doppler myocardial imaging (DMI) can detect early signs of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in a rat model of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Methods Eight control and 12 Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats underwent transthoracic echocardiography with high-resolution technology at baseline and 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks after STZ injection. Radial function was analysed using...

Changes in radial and longitudinal left ventricular (LV) function were investigated in beagles with iatrogenic hypercortisolism. A total of 11 normal dogs were used, and 2 mg/kg prednisone was administered per oral q12 h for 28 days to 7 out of 11 dogs to induce iatrogenic hypercortisolism. Body weight, blood pressure, conventional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) of normal and...