SUMMARYIn order to assess left ventricular function in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis, left ventricular function curves (plotting stroke work index vs left ventricular end-diastolic pressure) were June 20, 1975. tion curves were constructed by afterload elevation with angiotensin and reduction by nitroprusside. The over-all hemodynamic response of patients with mitral stenosis to these afterload changes was also examined.Methods Fourteen patients with isolated mitral stenosis were included in the study. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. Patients with other valvular disease were excluded by physical examination, echocardiography, and by the results of catheterization. Any patient exhibiting more than trivial mitral regurgitation at the time of left ventricular angiography was excluded.Resting cardiac catheterization was performed after premedication with 100 mg secobarbital intramuscularly. Wedge or NIH catheters with Statham P23Db transducers were employed for right-sided pressures, and 6.7 polyethylene end-hole catheters with Micron MP-15 transducers for left-sided pressures. Cardiac outputs were determined either by the direct Fick method or by duplicate indocyanine green dye dilution techniques. Pressures, mitral valve gradients, and stroke work indices were computerdetermined" and checked manually. Mitral valve area was calculated according to a modified Gorlin formula,7 using the mean pulmonary artery wedge-left ventricular pressure difference as the mitral valve gradient and an empirical constant of 44.5. The use of 44.5 reflects our reservations concerning the precision of constants derived from operative measurements of orifice size and preference for standardization with aortic valve measurements.Resting left ventricular angiography was performed using a 6.7F angiographic catheter passed retrogradely across the aortic valve, and with the patient in the 300 right anterior oblique position. End-diastolic and end-systolic left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction were determined by Circulation, Volume 52, November I975