[Mitral regurgitation: detection and quantitative evaluation by two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography].

Mitral regurgitation was detected and quantitatively evaluated using two-dimensional Doppler-echocardiography. The subjects consisted of 74 cases having a variety of heart diseases, who underwent left ventriculography within one week before or after the Doppler study. Among 50 patients with mitral regurgitation confirmed by left ventriculography, the Doppler study detected mitral regurgitant flow signals in 46, for a sensitivity of 92%. Minimal mitral regurgitation in four cases could not be detected by Doppler studies. Twenty-four patients had no mitral regurgitation according to left ventriculography; all but one also had no mitral regurgitation by Doppler study, for a specificity of 96%. In one false positive case, typical mitral regurgitant flow signals were detected in an area localized within the left atrial cavity near the mitral valve orifice. The possibility remains that left ventriculography missed this minimal regurgitation. For quantitative assessment of mitral regurgitation, the following two methods were used. Three long-axis views through the lateral, middle and medial parts of the mitral valve, and a short-axis view at the level of the mitral orifice were imaged via the parasternal approach. The area where mitral regurgitant flow signals were detected was mapped on each cross-sectional echocardiogram, then the distance attained by the regurgitant flow from the mitral valve and the area covered by the regurgitant flow were determined. The maximal distance among the three long-axis views and the sum of the distances in these views was parallel to the severity of mitral regurgitation as assessed by left ventriculography.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)