Predictors of Cardiovascular Death in Patients with a Left Ventricular Restrictive Filling Pattern of the Mitral Inflow

Abstract

The survival, clinical and echocardiographic variables and the predictors of cardiovascular death were determined for a group of 168 patients (mean age 63 ± 13 years; 65 females; mean left ventricular ejection fraction 32 ± 10%) with restrictive filling of the left ventricle and depressed systolic function after a mean follow-up period of 2.7 ± 1 years. Shorter deceleration time (DT) of the mitral inflow was the only variable significantly different between survivors and nonsurvivors (p < 0.05) and the only predictor of death found by multivariate logistic regression analysis (odds ratio 2.2, 95% confidence interval 1.7–3.6). In this patient population, a DT of the early wave of the mitral inflow <140 ms identified the patients with the highest risk of cardiac death. DT is a practical echocardiographic parameter for risk stratification of patients with significant left ventricular systolic dysfunction and restrictive filling of the left ventricle.

Ventricular long-axis function is of major importance for long-term survival in patients with heart failure

“…Several echocardiographic variables have been shown to be associated with outcome in patients with heart failure, of which left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) is the most widely used 2. Various other measurements might provide additional information, such as the degree of LV remodelling,3 or signs of a restrictive filling pattern 4. Even though the right ventricle displays a complex geometry, the significance of right ventricular (RV) EF as an independent predictor of poor outcome has been demonstrated 5.…”