Increased volume reduction of late left-atrial emptying for patients with pseudonormal mitral inflow: an analysis for differentiation between normal and pseudonormal mitral inflow.

This study was designed to define the role of left atrial (LA) wall motion during left ventricular (LV) diastolic phase for patients with pseudonormal mitral inflow. We perform the M-mode of posterior aortic, indicating LA, wall motion, and Doppler echocardiography following cardiac catheterization among 71 patients with a ratio of early (E) to late mitral flow (A) >1. The amplitude of total LA wall motion (TM), early LA rapid emptying (EM), and late LA emptying (AM) during the LV diastolic phase were all derived from M-mode analysis. Study patients were classified into two distinct groups according to the LV end-diastolic pressure (EDP): patients with a LVEDP value < 15 mmHg (n = 36, normal group), and patients with a LVEDP value > or = 15 mmHg (n = 35, pseudonormal group). Values of AM (4.7 +/- 1.2 vs 5.5 +/- 1.2 mm) and AM/TM (0.43 +/- 0.07 vs 0.55 +/- 0.08) for the normal and pseudonormal groups, respectively, were significantly higher for the pseudonormal group, whereas EM (6.6 +/- 1.8 vs 4.8 +/- 1.4 mm), TM (11 +/- 3 vs 10 +/- 2 mm), EM/AM (1.41 +/- 0.46 vs 0.91 +/- 0.28), EM/TM (0.58 +/- 0.10 vs 0.48 +/- 0.07) were significantly higher for the normal group. Among these parameters, AM/TM correlated best with the time constant of LV isovolumic relaxation (r = 0.77, P < 0.001). Using an AM/TM ratio value of >0.5 as an indicator of LV diastolic function abnormality, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values, and negative predictive values for the detection of pseudonormalization were 85%, 94%, 94%, and 87%, respectively. These findings suggest that the increased volume reduction of late LA emptying (AM/TM) during LV diastolic phase assessed by M-mode echocardiography is useful for evaluating pseudonormal mitral inflow.