Incremental value of combining systolic mitral annular velocity and time difference between mitral inflow and diastolic mitral annular velocity to early diastolic annular velocity for differentiating constrictive pericarditis from restrictive cardiomyopathy.

Although normal or exaggerated early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E') provides an excellent specificity for differentiating constrictive pericarditis (CP) from restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM), its sensitivity has been shown to be lower, especially in patients with CP who had underlying myocardial abnormality. This study sought to evaluate the incremental value of systolic mitral annular velocity (S') and time difference between onset of mitral inflow and onset of E' (T(E'-E)) for differentiation between CP and RCM. This study included 44 participants (28 male, 16 female; mean age 47 years, range 10-76): 17 patients with CP, 12 with RCM, and 15 control subjects. Standard mitral inflow Doppler and tissue Doppler echocardiography were performed. E' (9.5 +/- 1.7 vs 4.7 +/- 1.6 cm/s, P < .001) and S' (7.7 +/- 1.3 vs 4.6 +/- 1.9 cm/s, P < .001) were significantly higher, whereas T(E'-E) (21.0 +/- 32.0 vs 53.1 +/- 30.4 milliseconds, P = .02) was significantly shorter in patients with CP than with RCM. Diagnostic accuracy of E' for differentiation of CP from RCM was higher than S' or T(E'-E) (area under curve 0.99 vs 0.87 vs 0.74, respectively). E' of 8 cm/s had excellent specificity (100%) for differentiation of CP from RCM but sensitivity (70%) was relatively low. However, when combining E' with S' and T(E'-E), the sensitivity could be increased when compared with E' alone (70% with E', 88% with E' + S', and 94% with E' + S' + T(E'-E)), P = .001). In conclusion, the measurement of S' and T(E'-E) can be helpful for differentiating between CP and RCM by providing incremental diagnostic information to E'.