Hemodynamic changes in left ventricular function during acute coronary insufficiency: a Doppler echocardiographic study.

To define the availability of Doppler echocardiography in evaluating left ventricular hemodynamic changes induced by some clinical findings of acute coronary insufficiency, we selected 12 patients with angina and 32 affected by acute myocardial infarction. Doppler echocardiography was performed at hospital admittance and during recovery time. Left ventricular contractility was defined on the systolic aortic flow spectrum by measuring the aortic velocity maximum, the time to peak/left ventricular ejection time ratio, and the cardiac output. During the first examination, left ventricular contractility significantly decreased in patients with angina and in those with acute myocardial infarction. After the acute phase, these parameters slightly improved. Left ventricular diastolic filling was evaluated in the transmitral flow. A decreased E-wave velocity and an increased late component (A wave) with inversion of the E/A wave ratio were found in patients with acute myocardial infarction during the first examination. This morphology inverts when the patients stabilize. On the contrary, this ratio stayed above one during and after angina. In this study, we also defined the usefulness of the color Doppler method in setting up criteria to identify some early morphological complications of acute myocardial infarction in 12 patients with acute infarction and a new systolic murmur. This technique showed an ischemic rupture of the ventricular septum in five cases and mitral regurgitation in seven. The color Doppler method has allowed us to obtain a semi-quantitative assessment of the mitral regurgitation and the location of the ventricular septal defect.