Analysis of regional left ventricular wall motion during diastole in mitral stenosis

Percutaneous mitral balloon valvotomy in a patient with coexistent mitral stenosis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

A patient with coexistent mitral stenosis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is described, in whom symptoms related to impaired left ventricular diastolic filling improved after successful percutaneous mitral balloon valvotomy.

Anatomical correction for complete transposition and double outlet right ventricle: intermediate assessment of functional results

Thirty three patients were followed up after anatomical correction of transposition of the great arteries or double outlet right ventricle and subpulmonary ventricular septal defect (Taussig-Bing anomaly). There were no late deaths and clinical progress was excellent. Cardiac catheterisation was performed in 17 patients two weeks to 44 months after operation. There were six patients with simple transposition, six with complete transposition and large ventricular septal defect, and five with the Taussig-Bing anomaly. Pressure gradients across the right ventricular outflow tract ranged from 5 to 72 mm Hg, being greater than 40 mm Hg in five patients. No patient was shown to have important valvar regurgitation and in 15 patients the coronary anastomoses were widely patent. Left ventricular function was assessed from digitised ventriculograms. Ventricular volume, shape, and ejection fraction were all normal for the group although patients with complex transposition showed a significantly lower mean (SD) ejection fraction than those with simple transposition (62(9) vs 77(9]. Analysis of regional wall motion showed a totally normal pattern in four patients; however, in seven patients a characteristic abnormality of anterior hypokinesis with delayed onset of inward wall motion was seen. Anatomical correction of transposition of the great arteries and the Taussig-Bing anomaly can be performed with satisfactory anatomical and functional results. The implications of the left ventricular wall motion abnormalities is unknown.

Asynchronous left ventricular wall motion early after coronary thrombosis

To study regional wall motion early in the development of acute myocardial infarction, left ventriculograms performed in 24 patients before thrombolysis and within 3.5(1.2) (mean (SD] hours of the onset of pain were digitised frame by frame. Isometric and contour plots of regional wall motion were constructed. In 19 patients (seven with anterior descending, eight with right, and four with circumflex disease) thrombosis was demonstrated on an underlying stenosis. In 10 patients the two remaining coronary arteries were normal, and in nine, one or both showed important disease. Mean values of global indices of left ventricular function, including end diastolic volume, ejection fraction, peak ejection and filling rates, and cavity shape changes were all within normal limits, though end systolic volume was significantly raised. Total systolic amplitude of wall motion was normal in the affected area in all but seven patients (four with anterior descending, two with right, and one with circumflex thrombosis). Dyskinesis of more than 2 mm was seen in only three patients, all with thrombosis of the anterior anterior descending coronary artery, and hyperkinesis was present in four. The commonest abnormality of wall motion was hypokinesis during ejection followed by prolonged inward motion during isovolumic relaxation, which was seen in four patients with anterior descending, seven with right, and three with circumflex artery thrombosis. This was preceded by outward motion during isovolumic contraction and delayed inward motion during ejection in eight with right or circumflex thrombosis. Five of six patients without thrombosis had simple hypokinesis or dyskinesis without asynchrony. Disease of other coronary arteries did not affect the pattern of wall motion seen after right or circumflex coronary artery occlusion but it reduced the incidence of delayed inward motion along the free wall after thrombosis of anterior descending artery. Thus early after acute coronary thrombosis asynchronous wall motion is commoner than simple hypokinesis or dyskinesis. Its persistence suggests that in the setting of coronary artery thrombosis in man, residual contractile activity may persist for up to six hours after the onset of symptoms.

Mechanisms of reduced left ventricular filling rate in coronary artery disease

To identify mechanisms underlying slow left ventricular filling in coronary artery disease, left ventriculograms from 93 patients and 18 normal subjects were digitised frame by frame and global and regional function analysed. In 54 patients peak normalised filling rates were above the lower 95% confidence limit of normal (2 X 9s-1) and in 39 they were below. Patients with slow filling had a lower ejection fraction, a higher end systolic volume, and less overall shape index change, although a larger percentage occurred during isovolumic relaxation owing to asynchronous relaxation. Stroke volume was not significantly different. Slow outward wall motion was associated with increased cavity volume and systolic hypokinesis. Wall motion was also appreciably asynchronous, with wide spreads in the times of peak outward velocity and termination of rapid outward movement between regions. Early outward movement usually started in the anterior region, with peak velocity occurring before mitral valve opening, and significantly earlier than that in the apex or the inferior region. Ventricular oscillations occurred during filling in 23 patients. This asynchronous wall movement was unrelated to the distribution of coronary artery disease, systolic hypokinesis, or Q waves on electrocardiograms but was similar to that occurring in mitral stenosis. The main causes of slow left ventricular filling in patients with coronary artery disease appear to be (a) failure to achieve a normal low end systolic volume, with associated loss of physiological changes in left ventricular cavity shape, and (b) incoordinate wall motion during isovolumic relaxation which dissipates energy normally coupled to rapid ventricular filling. The resulting slow and asynchronous wall motion may have clinical implications especially when the time available for left ventricular filling is short.