[The potentials of pulse Doppler echocardiography for the diagnosis and determination of the degree of mitral stenosis].

84 persons were examined: 61 patients with rheumatic mitral valve stenosis (21 men and 40 women), mean age 39.38 +/- 11.2 years and 23 healthy controls (14 men and 9 women), mean age 25.62 +/- 3.8 years. The morphologic and quantitative characteristics of the diastolic part of the pulse Doppler echocardiographic signal of mitral circulation analyzed by histogram of the time intervals show highly significant statistical differences between the patients with mitral valve stenosis and the healthy controls (100% specificity and sensitivity). The differentiation of mild and moderate from severe mitral stenosis by pulse Doppler echocardiography of mitral valve circulation, analyzed by histogram of the time intervals, is achieved with satisfactory precision by determination of the speed of the circulation fall in the early 1/3 of the diastole. The pulse Doppler echocardiograph performed by a transducer with 2.5 mHz frequency and the simultaneous M-echocardiography, the Doppler effect being analyzed by histogram of the time intervals, do not allow the precise determination of the degree of mitral valve stenosis.