Noninvasive evaluation of intracardiac pressures using Doppler ultrasound: a case study of panvalvular regurgitation.

Doppler velocity signals from regurgitant valve flow can be used to calculate pressure gradients across incompetent valves by a modification of the Bernoulli equation. Analysis of these gradients provides clinically useful, noninvasive information about cardiac chamber pressures. This study presents an unusual case of cardiomyopathy with panvalvular regurgitation which demonstrates the major methods of pressure analysis using Doppler signals from regurgitant valves.