Doppler echocardiography can provide insight into the diastolic properties of the left ventricle. The hemodynamic origins of the diastolic mitral flow velocity profile are reviewed and Doppler information is compared to other measures of left ventricular diastolic function. Factors affecting the mitral diastolic flow velocity in both normal populations and pathologic conditions are discussed an...

A precise diagnosis of diastolic dysfunction is often difficult and requires invasive techniques to determine left ventricular volume, relaxation, and compliance properties. At this current point of time there is no single non-invasive index available to adequately reflect diastolic function, perhaps because of the numerous factors that can alter diastolic function. In most clinical settings, d...

PERIOPERATIVE cardiovascular risk assessment has undergone significant advances, including development and validation of multivariable risk indices for prediction of major cardiac complications, advances in detecting ischemic heart disease, and noninvasive detection of symptomatic reductions in left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction. However, we have recently recognized that current preoperati...

D iabetes is a risk factor for the development of symptomatic heart failure, particularly in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes (1,2). Heart failure that occurs as the result of impaired myocardial relaxation and compliance has been termed diastolic heart failure (3). Diastolic heart failure develops despite normal left ventricular systolic contractile function and leads to significant morbi...

J Echocardiogr Vol.6, No.3, 2008 57 The concepts for the assessment of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function were established in the cardiac catheterization laboratory and necessitate the use of high fidelity pressure and conductance catheters. The most recent [1] set of criteria (Figure 1) for diagnosing diastolic heart failure (DHF) include the presence of increased LV filling pressures (m...

Abstract To evaluate the relationship of cardiac function, including time-volume-curves, with lung volumes derived from pulmonary function tests (PFT) and MRI in subjects without cardiovascular diseases. 216 underwent whole-body spirometry as part KORA-FF4 cohort study. Lung semi-automatically using an in-house algorithm. Forced expiratory volume one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), ...

AIMS To study the clinical value of the colour-M-mode slope of the early diastolic left ventricular filling phase (Vp) and the early diastolic downward M-mode slope of the left atrioventricular plane displacement (EDS), compared with diastolic function assessed by traditional Doppler evaluation. METHODS AND RESULTS In 65 consecutive patients EDS and Vp were compared with a four-degree traditi...