Echocardiographic evaluation of mitral stenosis using diastolic posterior left ventricular wall motion.

The slope of the posterior left ventricular wall motion in diastole (LVDS) was determined by echocardiography in 25 normal subjects and 21 patients with mitral stenosis. Patients with mitral stenosis had reduced LVDS that was related to the degree of mitral stenosis determined by calculated mitral valve area (r = 0.92). The mitral valve area correlated more closely with the LVDS than with the left atrial emptying index derived from the posterior aortic wall motion. Three patients with mitral stenosis had an increased LVDS after mitral valvotomy or mitral valve replacement. One patient with a stenotic mitral valve prosthesis had reduced LVDS. The results of this study suggest that analysis of the LVDS would be useful in predicting the severity of mitral stenosis and may be beneficial in evaluating patients with suspected prosthetic mitral valve malfunction.