Noninvasive estimation of the rate of relaxation by the analysis of intraventricular pressure gradients.

BACKGROUND

During late ejection, myocardial relaxation causes systolic flow to decelerate and stop, and this phenomenon is coupled with the generation of a pressure gradient inside the left ventricle (LV). We hypothesized that the peak reverse ejection intraventricular pressure difference (REIVPD) between the LV apex and the outflow tract could be a useful method to improve the assessment of LV relaxation using Doppler echocardiography.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Three sets of animal experiments and 1 clinical study were designed. In 6 pigs, a close relationship between REIVPD and the intensity of the relaxation wave (R(rm)=0.89) was demonstrated using wave intensity analysis of high-fidelity pressure-volume-velocity data. In 19 animals, REIVPD sensitively detected modifications of the lusotropic state and closely correlated with the time constant of LV relaxation (τ) within animals (R(rm)=-0.93). Load-dependence analysis in 5 pigs showed that REIVPD remained stable up to values of 35% to 40% acute preload reduction. Clinical validation was tested in 50 patients (23 with normal systolic function) undergoing simultaneous Doppler echocardiography and high-fidelity LV pressure measurements on the same beat. REIVPD and tissue Doppler mitral annulus velocity (e') were independently related to τ, but the REIVPD · e' product correlated better with τ than either variable separately (bootstrap-corrected correlation coefficients: R=-0.84 versus -0.71, and -0.70, respectively, P<0.05). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve to predict impaired relaxation (τ>50 ms) for e' · REIVPD was 0.96 (95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.99).

CONCLUSIONS

The Doppler-derived REIVPD provides a sensitive, reliable, reproducible, and relatively load-independent index of the rate of LV relaxation. Combined with tissue Doppler measurements of longitudinal function, this method improves noninvasive assessment of LV relaxation in the clinical setting.