Mitral Annular Systolic Velocities Predict Left Ventricular Wall Motion Abnormality During Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography

BACKGROUND Longitudinal systolic left ventricular contraction is complementary to the radial performance and can be assessed using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). This study was performed to evaluate the contribution of mitral annular systolic velocities using TDI after dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). METHODS AND RESULTS Fifty subjects with suspected coronary artery disease and chest pain were examined, using DSE as usual, as well as TDI imaging of the mitral annulus at the septal, lateral, inferior, anterior, posterior regions and the proximal anteroseptal region from the apical views, before and immediately after DSE. In 24 subjects the study was normal, while wall motion abnormality was seen in 26, 9 of them only after DSE. Mitral annular systolic velocity at the 6 locations increased significantly after DSE both in normal subjects and in those with wall motion abnormality (WMA). After DSE mitral annular septal systolic velocity in normals, 19.2 ± 3.8 cm/sec, was higher than in those with WMA, 14.6 ± 2.5 cm/sec, P < 0.0003. Post-DSE mitral systolic velocity was senstive and accurate in predicting WMA. CONCLUSIONS Systolic mitral TDI velocities increase after DSE, however to a lesser extent in those with wall motion abnormality, and can differentiate them from normal subjects.