A new diagnostic procedure for assessing intracardiac flow disturbances inpatients with heart valve disease

Background: Until now no diagnostic technique was available for the three-d imensional (3D) study of intracardiac blood flow abnormalities in patients with heart valve disease. 3D color Doppler is a new diagnostic technique fi rst developed at our institution. Methods: The 3D reconstructions of the bl ood flow velocity data have been obtained from conventional multiplanar tra nsesophageal or transthoracic Doppler echocardiographic examinations. We an alyzed 111 reconstructions of color Doppler data obtained from 85 patients with different heart valve diseases who underwent intraoperative transesoph ageal echocardiography. Sixty-nine patients had a significant mitral regurg itation, 7 mitral stenosis, 9 aortic regurgitation, 12 aortic stenosis, 14 tricuspid regurgitation. Three patients had pulmonary regurgitation associa ted with mitral valve disease. Results: 3D color Doppler disclosed the comp lex spatial spreading of the blood flow abnormalities caused by heart valve disease. New patterns of intracardiac blood flow disturbances could be obs erved and classified. Conclusions: This paper shows the first clinical appl ications of 3D color Doppler in patients with heart valve disease. The new insights derived from the 3D study of intracardiac blood flow dynamics reve aled a great impact of this technique on the clinical management of patient s with heart valve disease.