title: Transesophageal Doppler echocardiographic assessment of left coronary blood flow velocity in chronic aortic regurgitation.
abstract: Assessment of systolic and diastolic coronary blood flow velocities (FVs) in patients with aortic regurgitation (AR) has remained a clinical challenge. We recorded left anterior descending coronary blood FV in 21 patients with chronic AR an in 6 control subjects using transesophageal pulsed Doppler echocardiography. In 7 patients FV was measured 4.0 +/- 5.2 months after aortic valve replacement. Peak and mean FVs during systole and diastole and systolic/diastolic ratios of these FVs were determined. Left ventricular (LV) mass index was calculated by means of standard M-mode echocardiography. In patients with severe AR, peak and mean systolic FVs were significantly increased (34 +/- 8 cm/sec and 21 +/- 6 cm/sec, respectively) compared with FVs in the control group (15 +/- 4 and 12 +/- 3 cm/sec, respectively) and in patients with mild AR (17 +/- 3 cm/sec and 13 +/- 2 cm/sec, respectively). Peak and mean systolic FVs were also significantly increased in severe AR (54 +/- 13 cm/sec and 33 +/- 9 cm/sec, respectively) compared with FVs in the control (30 +/- 8 cm/sec and 21 +/- 5 cm/sec, respectively) and mild AR groups (30 +/- 5 cm/sec and 21 +/- 4 cm/sec, respectively). Peak systolic and diastolic FVs were correlated significantly with LV mass index (r = 0.72 and r = 0.73, respectively). Systolic and diastolic FVs and LV mass index were significantly decreased, normalized or both after aortic valve surgery. In conclusion, LV mass seems to have an effect on the significantly increased systolic and diastolic left coronary blood FV pattern in patients with chronic, severe AR. Increased systolic and diastolic FV appears to be normalized in the late period after surgery.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kisanuki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murayama
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Otsuji
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Toyonaga
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyazono
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arima
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taira
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000601:surgery; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002302:Cardiac Output; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003971:Diastole; D004452:Echocardiography; D018619:Echocardiography, Doppler, Pulsed; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D013599:Systole; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left