Effects of systemic hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy on posterior left atrial wall motion

Abstract In previous echocardiographic studies of left atrial (LA) wall motion, investigators emphasized the importance of the motion of the posterior aortic root, 1,2 which abuts on the most mobile portion of the left atrium and responds to volume changes within it. Although the posterior LA wall is considered less mobile, it can be examined directly. Patton et al 3 observed that the mobility of the posterior inferior segment moved in a different direction from left ventricular (LV) wall motion and was considered feasible to avoid the inherent disadvantage of using an adjacent structure such as the posterior aortic root to assess cyclic LA wall changes. Therefore, we studied the effect of LV hypertrophy on LA wall motion during the passive phase of emptying in early diastole and during atrial systole.