Recommendations for the Evaluation of Left Ventricular Diastolic Function by Echocardiography

The assessment of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function should be an integral part of a routine examination, particularly in patients presenting with dyspnea or heart failure. About half of patients with new diagnoses of heart failure have normal or near normal global ejection fractions (EFs). These patients are diagnosed with “diastolic heart failure” or “heart failure with preserved EF.”1 The assessment of LV diastolic function and filling pressures is of paramount clinical importance to distinguish this syndrome from other diseases such as pulmonary disease resulting in dyspnea, to assess prognosis, and to identify underlying cardiac disease and its best treatment. LV filling pressures as measured invasively include mean pulmonary wedge pressure or mean left atrial (LA) pressure (both in the absence of mitral stenosis), LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP; the pressure at the onset of the QRS complex or after A-wave pressure), and pre-A LV diastolic pressure (Figure 1).Although these pressures are different in absolute terms, they are closely related, and they change in a predictable progression with myocardial disease, such that LVEDP increases prior to the rise in mean LA pressure. Figure 1 The 4 phases of diastole are marked in relation to high-fidelity pressure recordings from the left atrium (LA) and left ventricle (LV) in anesthetized dogs. The first pressure crossover corresponds to the end of isovolumic relaxation and mitral valve opening. In the first phase, left atrial pressure exceeds left ventricular pressure, accelerating mitral flow. Peak mitral E roughly corresponds to the second crossover. Thereafter, left ventricular pressure exceeds left atrial pressure, decelerating mitral flow. These two phases correspond to rapid filling. This is followed by slow filling, with almost no pressure differences. During atrial contraction, left atrial pressure again exceeds left ventricular pressure. The solid arrow points to left ventricular minimal pressure, the dotted arrow to left ventricular …