title: Utility of stress Doppler echocardiography in patients undergoing percutaneous mitral balloon valvotomy.
abstract: A subset of patients with mitral stenosis have symptoms out of proportion to the resting hemodynamics. Exercise Doppler echocardiography is a useful diagnostic modality to determine which patients are limited by their valve obstruction and would therefore benefit from percutaneous mitral balloon valvotomy. We analyzed 11 patients who showed a peak exercise mean mitral gradient that doubled from baseline or a final gradient of > 15 mm Hg. The mean mitral gradient increased from 7 +/- 2 mm Hg at rest to 19 +/- 6 mm Hg (P < .001) with exercise. All patients reported improvement in symptoms of at least 1 functional class after valvotomy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Aviles
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pellikka
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Andreen
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Holmes
mesh_terms: D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D002404:Catheterization; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000295:instrumentation; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008946:Mitral Valve Stenosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome