Yb. Deng et al., DETERMINATION OF MITRAL-VALVE AREA IN PATIENTS WITH MITRAL-STENOSIS BY THE FLOW-CONVERGENCE-REGION METHOD DURING CHANGING HEMODYNAMIC CONDITIONS, The American heart journal, 132(3), 1996, pp. 633-641
Twenty-eight patients with mitral stenosis underwent Doppler echocardi
ography at rest and during exercise to determine the accuracy of mitra
l valve area determination by the flow-convergence-region method durin
g exercise-induced changing hemodynamic conditions. The mitral valve a
rea calculated by using the flow-convergence-region method correlated
strongly with that measured by the Gorlin formula both at rest (r = 0.
85) and during exercise (r = 0.92) for all 28 patients studied. Althou
gh mitral valve area obtained by the Row-convergence-region method did
not change (p = 0.1) in 16 patients with echocardiographic mitral sco
res greater than or equal to 12, it increased significantly during exe
rcise (p = 0.0001) in 12 patients with echocardiographic mitral scores
<12. This study suggests that in mitral stenosis, the mitral valve ar
ea can be accurately estimated by the flow-convergence-region method b
oth at rest and during changing hemodynamic conditions induced by supi
ne bicycle exercise.