Role of Intraventricular Dispersion of Early Diastolic Filling in Indicating Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction: Assessment by Color M-Mode Inflow Propagation Velocity

The intraventricular to mitral E velocity ratio (IvE/MvE) and the color M-mode Doppler inflow propagation velocity (LVIPV) were evaluated in 36 healthy controls and 33 patients with hypertension and/or ischemic heart disease. The intraventricular E velocity was significantly lower than the mitral E velocity in the control group (52 vs. 68 cm/s, p < 0.001), but they are similar in the disease group (59 vs. 63 cm/s, p = nonsignificant). Compared with the control group, the disease group had a higher IvE/MvE (0.95 ± 0.28 vs. 0.78 ± 0.23, p < 0.01). Nevertheless, the LVIPV was not significantly different between the disease and control groups (53 ± 14 vs. 56 ± 13 cm/s, p = nonsignificant). The LVIPV did not correlate with the IvE/MvE (r = 0.202, p = nonsignificant). Therefore, an intraventricular dispersion of early diastolic filling does not seem to indicate impaired left ventricular relaxation.