Role of Echocardiography in the Assessment of Left Ventricular Function in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract

The usefulness of echocardiography in the detection of wall motion abnormalities in patients with coronary artery disease has been demonstrated by several workers. This investigation was designed to determine the role of echocardiography in the assessment of left ventricular function in patients with significant narrowing of their coronary arteries. A recent report stated that patients who have a low left ventricular ejection fraction have a significantly higher mortality following aorto-coronary bypass graft surgery. Hence the ability to predict a poor ejection fraction by a non-invasive technique is of great prognostic importance. Echocardiography was performed on 42 patients with coronary artery disease. The only criterion for selection was a technically satisfactory echocardiogram. Left ventricular dimensions and wall motion were measured at a point just caudal to the mitral valve. The echocardiographic left ventricular end diastolic dimension (LVED) was increased above the upper limits of normal for our laboratory (>5.4 cm) in 16 patients. Fifteen of these patients had an angiographically measured ejection fraction of 0.45 or less. Three patients had a normal left ventricular end diastolic dimension i.e. 0.45 and normal LVED.