No abstract

The outer contour of the heart has in some studies been shown to be constant during the heart cycle and the epicardial apex almost stationary whilst the base of the ventricles moves towards apex during systole. The base of the left ventricle has been regarded as a cylinder with constant cross-sectional area with changes in height during the heart cycle, the latter corresponding to the amplitude of mitral annulus motion (MAM). In this echocardiographic study, including 20 healthy adults, the stroke volume calculated by the cylinder model was significantly lower than by a reference method (modified Simpson's rule). MAM explained 82% of the stroke volume and 18% must, therefore, be explained by an inward motion of the outer left ventricular wall. A mean outer diameter shortening of about 3% (about 2 mm) was calculated.

Mitral annulus motion (MAM) has recently been introduced as an index of left ventricular function. Several echocardiographic studies have shown good agreement between ejection fraction (EF) and MAM x 5, where MAM is the total mitral annulus motion, measured in mm, and EF is expressed as a percentage. This means that if MAM is used for estimation of left ventricular function, the conversion factor 5 is used, if the function is expressed as EF. In these studies, the mean age of the patients was over 60 years. The present study, including 102 patients, shows that in patients aged 20-40 years, the conversion factor is about 4.3, in patients aged 41-60 years it is about 4.6 and in patients aged 61-80 years it is about 5.0. It was also found that the ratio EF/MAM decreases with increasing height and left ventricular diameter, both variables closely connected to heart size. The results suggest that when MAM is used in assessment of left ventricular function, it is unwise to express the function in terms of EF. It is preferable to use MAM as a direct index of ventricular function, using reference values referred to aged and height. If the estimated function is expressed in terms of EF, different converting factors must be used depending on the age of the patients.

A decrease in left ventricular (LV) systolic function is accompanied by a decrease in maximal relaxation velocity in LV long-axis direction, but is it also accompanied by a decrease in right ventricular (RV) long-axis function? To study this 35 consecutive patients were examined by echocardiography. Ejection fraction (LVEF) and mitral annulus motion (MAM) were used as indices of LV systolic function and tricuspid annulus motion (TAM), that is the systolic shortening in RV long-axis direction, was used as an index of RV systolic long-axis function. In the same way the maximal relaxation velocity in LV long-axis direction, that is the maximal diastolic velocity of MAM (MDV MAM), has been suggested as an index of LV diastolic function the maximal diastolic velocity of TAM (MDV TAM) can be supposed to be an index of RV diastolic function measuring the maximal relaxation velocity in the RV long-axis direction. A significant positive correlation was found between MDV TAM and MAM (r = 0.64, P<0001) and LVEF (r = 0.54, P = 0.001) and between TAM and the two studied indices of LV systolic function, with the highest correlation to MAM (r = 0.68, P<0.001) and the lowest to LVEF (r = 0.57, P<0.001). Thus, a decrease in LV systolic function is accompanied by a decrease in both systolic and diastolic RV long-axis function, findings that probably are due to the close anatomical connection between the ventricles and to changes that occur in afterload of the RV secondary to LV systolic dysfunction.

Mitral annulus motion (MAM) and the relation between left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and MAM has been shown to differ between patients with sinus rhythm and patients with atrial fibrillation. However, it has not been investigated how the relation between EF and MAM changes on direct-current (DC) electrical cardioversion to sinus rhythm. Therefore, 31 consecutive patients on the waiting list for DC electrical cardioversion were examined by echocardiography before DC electrical cardioversion, and those who maintained sinus rhythm (13 patients) were examined again 4-8 weeks after cardioversion. The conversion factor (CF) (ratio EF/MAM) decreased from 8.4 +/- 1.7 before to 5.8 +/- 0.8 SD after cardioversion (P<0.001). The EF increased slightly (P<0.05) but the MAM had a much greater increase (P<0.001), resulting in the decrease in CF. There was no significant difference in CF between patients after cardioversion and age- and gender-matched control patients with sinus rhythm, indicating that CF is normalized or almost normalized 4-8 weeks after cardioversion. This indicates that when MAM is used for investigation of the left ventricular function, and the function is expressed as EF, the same CF as in other patients with sinus rhythm can be used 4-8 weeks after DC electrical cardioversion.