title: Cross-sectional echocardiographic left ventricular geometry in rheumatic mitral stenosis.
abstract: The ultrastructural myopathic changes and deranged left ventricular contractile function have been reported in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis. It is not clear if as a result of these myopathic changes, global left ventricular myocardial remodelling occurs to alter its normal elliptical shape in the absence of qualitative segmental asynchrony. To study the left ventricular cavity shape independent of chamber size, cross-sectional echocardiographically measured longest long axis (L) of the left ventricular cavity in the apical four-chamber view and short axis diameters at the level of tips of the mitral leaflets in the parasternal long axis view (D-1), of the basal cavity (D-2) and the apical segment (D-3) in the apical four-chamber view at end-diastole and their ratio, were studied in 20 patients with isolated rheumatic mitral stenosis. Twenty healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, heart rate, height and body surface area provided the normal control data. The patients with mitral stenosis had shorter long axis diameter (7.2 +/- 0.7 vs 7.9 +/- 0.5 cm, p < 0.001) and greater short axis/long axis diameter ratios at every level with the most pronounced change in the apical segment of the cavity (D-3/L 0.49 +/- 0.09 vs 0.40 +/- 0.05, p < 0.001). Left ventricular end-diastolic sphericity index was also markedly increased in the patients with mitral stenosis (0.57 +/- 0.09 vs 0.40 +/- 0.05, p < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, G.B. Pant Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Mohan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Agrawala
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calton
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arora
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height; D001830:Body Surface Area; D003971:Diastole; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008946:Mitral Valve Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015588:Observer Variation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012214:Rheumatic Heart Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013318:Stroke Volume; D013599:Systole; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left