title: Echocardiographic criteria for the diagnosis of congestive (dilated) cardiomyopathy.
abstract: M-mode echocardiograms of 29 patients with congestive cardiomyopathy verified by either complete angiographic study or autopsy were compared with those of normal persons in order to find indices which separate individual cases. Three indices to be used as echocardiographic criteria of congestive cardiomyopathy are proposed: E-point separation over 10 mm, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension over 55 mm, and per-cent fractional shortening below 20%. It is suggested that segmental wall motion disturbances cannot be considered as criteria for congestive cardiomyopathy. In 76 patients with clinically suspected congestive cardiomyopathy the diagnosis was supported by the combination of the above-mentioned criteria. The authors recommend the use of these criteria for screening of the disease in the population.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged