Left ventricle in mitral stenosis.

The authors investigated the left ventricular systolic function and diastolic characteristic in 25 patients with mitral stenosis and compared the results with findings in 25 healthy subjects. The patients with mitral stenosis differed from the control group by elevated left ventricular filling pressure, greater left ventricular end-diastolic volume, reduced ejection fraction, and decreased calculated left ventricular compliance. Pathological values of these indicators, however, were infrequent and as a rule only slightly exceeded the normal limits. The decrease in left ventricular compliance had significant correlations with the degree of pulmonary arterial hypertension, elevation of right ventricular filling pressure, the ratio of filling pressures of both ventricles, and left ventricular end-systolic eccentricity. Consequently, the authors infer that the main factor decreasing the left ventricular compliance in mitral stenosis is the aberrant geometry of the ventricle. The authors also point out the correlations between the left ventricular systolic function and diastolic characteristics in mitral stenosis, and assume that this affection represents a complex, although not too advanced, disturbance of left ventricular function.