[Late diastolic mitral regurgitation].

Late diastolic mitral regurgitation (diastolic backflow of blood from the left ventricle to the left atrium at the end of left-ventricular diastole) is registered by Doppler echocardiography in patients with acquired heart defects and dilated cardiomyopathy. This phenomenon is based on the appearance at the end of left-ventricular diastole of the left ventricle/left atrium pressure gradient which is opposite to a normal relationship. Late diastolic regurgitation is more often encountered in patients with incompetence of the mitral and aortic valves. It is caused by disturbances of the work of the left heart and of kinetics of the mitral valve in relatively low frequency of cardiac contractions and is encountered in sinus rhythm and atrial fibrillation, and does not depend on the value of the transmural diastolic gradient. The clinical significance of mitral regurgitation remains unclear.