title: Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function in patients with systemic sarcoidosis.
abstract: In order to estimate left ventricular diastolic function in systemic sarcoidosis, Doppler echocardiography was utilized in 10 normal female subjects (aged 45 +/- 13 years) and in 10 female patients (aged 48 +/- 14 years), with biopsy proven sarcoidosis and without any clinical evidence of other cardiac disease or hypertension. Left ventricular systolic function assessed by two-dimensional echocardiography was normal in both groups (ejection fraction greater than 60%). The following Doppler echocardiographic parameters were measured: peak early diastolic flow velocity (E), peak late atrial diastolic flow velocity (A), the ratio (E/A) and deceleration of the flow velocity in early diastole (E-F slope). The results showed that 5 patients had two or more abnormal Doppler diastolic indexes, indicating impaired left ventricular relaxation, while the remaining 5 patients had values within or just outside normal limits. The mean values for the patients as a whole showed increased A velocity (0.77 +/- 0.11 m/s versus 0.61 +/- 0.10 m/s; P + 0.05), decreased E/A ratio (1.05 +/- 0.32 versus 1.4 +/- 0.30; P + 0.01), normal E velocity and normal E-F slope, compared with the mean values of the normal group. We concluded that a large percentage (50%) of patients with systemic sarcoidosis, had reduced diastolic performance of the left ventricle, at a stage of the disease when systolic dysfunction is not yet evident.
authors.affiliation: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Internal Medicine, G. Papanicolaou General Hospital, Macedonia, Greece.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Angomachalelis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hourzamanis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vamvalis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gavrielides
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003971:Diastole; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology