Assessment of Diastolic Energy Loss in Hypertensives versus Controls

Abstract

Increased energy loss (EL) during transmitral filling, if present in hypertensive subjects (HYT), can potentially inhibit normal intraventricular filling patterns that contribute to generating stroke volume.1 However, the presence, timing, and magnitude of EL in hypertension remain uncertain.2 Vector flow mapping (VFM) is a validated technology using color Doppler velocities to visualize intraventricular flow velocity vectors and derive estimates of EL.3 We hypothesized that VFM would reveal that hypertension increased left ventricular (LV) EL, causing impaired intracardiac diastolic blood flow efficiency.