In 49 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, systolic time interval measurements, echocardiograms,
and catheterization were performed within 48 h. Eighteen patients were without left ventricular outflow tract
pressure gradient (LV-PG), 16 had mild to moderate LV-PG (l-< 50 mm Hg), and 15 had significant LV-PG (> 50
mm Hg). A high degree of correlation was found between heart rate corrected left ventricular ejection time (LVETI)
and LV-PG (r = 0.87). LVETI in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but no LV-PG, was shorter than
normal (389 ± 17 vs. 413 ± 13 ms; p < 0.01). All patients with significant LV-PG (> 50 mm Hg) had LVETI > 423
ms, and only 1 patient without significant LV-PG had LVETI >423 ms (100% sensitivity, 97% specificity). In 4
patients in whom LVETI and LV-PG were measured before and during isoproterenol infusion, changes in both
parameters were parallel. No other Ă©chocardiographie (including systolic anterior motion of mitral valve) or systolic
time interval measurements reliably identified patients with significant LV-PG. Thus, in patients with hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy (1) LVETI is shorter than normal in the absence of LV-PG, and (2) the measurement of LVETI
reliably identifies patients with significant LV-PG at rest and during adrenergic stimulation.