Usefulness of accelerated diastolic reversed flow along the left ventricular posterior wall in aortic regurgitation for estimating left ventricular function.

Abstract

Abstract Timely indication of surgical correction of aortic regurgitation (AR) depends on precise evaluation of left ventricular (LV) function. However, it may still be difficult to accurately predict surgical outcome with only currently available indexes of LV function. We undertook this study to obtain a novel index of LV function from altered LV fluid dynamics in patients with AR. AR flow is expected to cause definitive changes in intraventricular flow distributions. The degree of such changes may be mainly determined by the severity of regurgitation but variously affected by chamber size, diastolic property and filling pressure of the left ventricle. Therefore, our hypothesis is that the changes in the intraventricular fluid dynamics reflect LV function in patients with similar degrees of AR. We tested this hypothesis in patients with severe AR using the Doppler ultrasound technique and obtained a novel index for estimating LV function.