COMPARISON OF ACOUSTIC QUANTIFICATION AND DOPPLER-ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY INASSESSMENT OF LEFT-VENTRICULAR DIASTOLIC VARIABLES

Objective-To assess the haemodynamic correlations of the waveforms of left ventricular area change obtained by automated boundary detection with newly developed acoustic quantification technology. Design-The ti ming of events in the cardiac cycle was identified on the waveform aut omated boundary detection and was correlated with the corresponding ti ming derived from pulsed wave Doppler flow velocity traces of the mitr al valve and left ventricular outflow tract. The amounts of area chang e during the rapid filling phase and during atrial contraction were co rrelated with the time-velocity integrals of early and late diastolic ventricular filling obtained from Doppler tracings of the mitral inflo w. Setting-A university medical school echocardiography laboratory. Su bjects-16 healthy volunteers and 19 patients referred for echocardiogr aphic studies. Results-A significant correlation was found between the methods for measurement of the time from the R wave to mitral valve o pening (r = 0.72, p < 0.01), isovolumic relaxation time (r = 0.62, p < 0.01), and ejection time (r = 0.54, p < 0.01). The change of total ar ea that occurred during rapid filling and atrial filling phases measur ed from the acoustic waveform correlated with the time-velocity integr als of the early and late diastolic mitral valve inflow velocity deriv ed from Doppler echocardiography (r = 0.60 and r = 0.80, respectively) .Conclusion-The waveform of left ventricular area obtained by the auto mated boundary detection technique identifies the phases of the cardia c cycle and correlates with Doppler values of left ventricular diastol ic function. Therefore, this new method of automated boundary detectio n has potential uses in die assessment of left ventricular diastolic f unction.