Left ventricular filling and diastolic myocardial deformation in chronic primary mitral regurgitation.

AIMS: Chronic primary mitral regurgitation (MR) results in enhanced filling of the left ventricle (LV) during early diastole. Filling is impaired with the onset of LV systolic dysfunction, due to increased myocardial stiffness and reduced restoring forces. We investigated echocardiographic parameters of early diastolic function in relation to LV systolic function. METHODS AND RESULTS: Early diastolic transmitral flow and tissue Doppler velocities, propagation velocity of early filling (V(p)), and early diastolic strain rates (SR-E) were measured in 30 patients with chronic degenerative MR and 30 age-matched controls. MR subjects were further subdivided into group 1 (14 subjects) if they had well compensated LV, and group 2 (16 subjects) if they had one or more of the following: functional limitation (> NYHA class I), LV end-systolic diameter >or=4.0 cm, and LV ejection fraction