APPLICATION OF COLOR DOPPLER M-MODE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF VENTRICULAR DIASTOLIC FUNCTION - POTENTIAL FOR QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS

Color Doppler M-mode echocardiography provides a spatiotemporal map of blood distribution (v(s,t)) within the heart, with a typical temporal resolution of 5 ms, a spatial resolution of 300 mu m, and a velocity resolution of 3 cm/s. M-mode echocardiographic data can be obtained al ong a streamline from the mid-left atrium to the mid-left ventricle fr om either the apical transthoracic window or the basal transesophageal window. A key parameter of the color Doppler M-mode is the transmitra l propagation velocity, the slope of the leading edge of the M-mode de rived E-wave. This propagation velocity is significantly less than the velocities measured within the E-wave by pulsed Doppler echocardiogra phy and appears to provide important independent information about lef t ventricular filling pressures and diastolic function. Furthermore, c olor M-mode velocities can be processed quantitatively by the Euler eq uation to yield estimates of the small (<2 mmHg) pressure gradients be tween the base and apex during filling, the first time such gradients have been measured noninvasively.