The role of M‑mode echocardiography in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction: A prospective cohort study

Epicardial movement during diastole is inversely proportional to myocardial stiffness but systolic regional thickening cannot precisely identify ischemic territories. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that a correlation may be present between M-mode echocardiography parameters and poor outcomes in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction. Patients with known cardiovascular disease were included in the test group (n=1,244) and patients without known cardiovascular disease were included in the control group (n=1,952). Patient records of routine measurements, M-mode echocardiography and mortality were collected. The control population and test population had the same left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (P=0.062) and left ventricular end-diastolic volume (P=0.053). A lower mitral flow velocity (P /=0.28; P<0.0001) at the 3-year follow-up. M-mode echocardiographic parameters may be of use for predicting poor outcomes in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction.