A Study of Left Ventricular Function by Digitized Echocardiograms in Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Echocardiography provides a broad array of interrelated methods for the study of left ventricular structure and function. Using a high quality digitizer, continuous measurement of left ventricular dimension and its rate of change could be obtained in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Peak dD/dT and peak dD/dT/D were significantly depressed in the patients. Normalized rates of systolic wall movement appear to be useful in detecting left ventricular disease because it reflect an increase in cavity size as much as any abnormality of contraction pattern. Digitized echocardiographic analysis may be one of good objective methods of evaluating the response to treatment in patients with various cardiac diseases.