title: Diastolic ventricular function improves during the first 48-hours-of-life in infants weighting <1250 g.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Few studies have focused on cardiac ventricular diastolic function in preterm neonates in the immediate post-natal period. This study evaluated Doppler-derived parameters of diastolic ventricular function in infants with birth weights of <1250 g during the transitional period.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective observational study conducted in the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. Flow patterns on the mitral and tricuspid valve, isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT), left and right ventricular output and superior vena cava flow were measured in 22 infants with a birth weight of below 1250 g at six, 12, 24 and 48 h of age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Early filling peak velocity of the left and right ventricle increased significantly from 30.3 to 39.5 cm/sec and 26.6 to 32.1 cm/sec, respectively. IVRT of the right ventricle decreased from 70 to 57 ms, and there was a nonsignificant decrease in IVRT of the left ventricle from 61.6 to 54 ms over the first 48 h.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have demonstrated that parameters of diastolic ventricular function change significantly over the first 48 h of life in preterm infants <1250 g and that these changes may represent early diastolic dysfunction during the transitional period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric and Newborn Medicine, Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Institute for the Care of Mother and Child, Prague, Czech Republic; Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sirc
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Dempsey
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miletin
mesh_terms: D002302:Cardiac Output; D003971:Diastole; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D062071:Infant, Extremely Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000502:physiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000502:physiology; D014683:Vena Cava, Superior / Q000502:physiology; D016276:Ventricular Function
keywords: Diastolic function; Functional echocardiography; Haemodynamic adaptation; Preterm neonate; Very low birth weight