Prevalence of isolated left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in hypertension as assessed by combined transmitral and pulmonary vein flow Doppler study

In a relatively large population of patients with treated systemic hyperten sion and normal left ventricular systolic function, prevalence of abnormali ties of left ventricular diastolic function, as assessed by Doppler echocar diographic study of mitral and pulmonary vein flow, was high, with 51% of p atients showing indirect signs of increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. Furthermore, our data documented that a "normal" mitral flow prof ile does not exclude the presence of an abnormality of left ventricular fil ling, which could be otherwise identified by combined analysis of a pulmona ry vein flow profile.