Diastolic flow characteristics of severely impaired left ventricles: A pulsed doppler ultrasound study

Left ventricular inflow was studied with pulsed Doppler echocardiography in 12 normals and 12 patients with a dilated left ventricle as a result of ischemic heart disease. To study the influence of left ventricular relaxation on both the transmitral and apical diastolic flow patterns, we applied range ambiguity. This provides simultaneous display of Doppler shifts obtained at different depths. The diastolic Doppler shift curves at the mitral valve and apical level in normals had the same time of onset, whereas there was an apparent time delay in the patients with heart disease (range 160–360 ms). This might be caused by absence of a normal apical wall motion in these patients.