Many patients with diastolic dysfunction have symptoms,
mainly with exertion, because of the rise in filling pressures
that is needed to maintain adequate LV filling and stroke
volume. Therefore, it is useful to evaluate LV filling pressure
with exercise as well, similar to the use of exercise to evaluate
patients with coronary artery or mitral valve disease.
The E/e´ ratio has been applied for that objective
(Figure 11). In subjects with normal myocardial relaxation,
E and e´ velocities increase proportionally (Table 2), and
the E/e´ ratio remains unchanged or is reduced.145
However, in patients with impaired myocardial relaxation,
the increase in e´ with exercise is much less than that of
mitral E velocity, such that the E/e´ ratio increases.146 In
that regard, E/e´ was shown to relate significantly to LV
filling pressures during exercise, when Doppler echocardiography
was acquired simultaneously with cardiac catheterization.
147 In addition, mitral DT decreases slightly in normal
individuals with exercise, but shortens .50 ms in patients
with a marked elevation of filling pressures.
In cardiac patients, mitral E velocity increases with exertion
and stays increased for a few minutes after the termination
of exercise, whereas e´ velocity remains reduced at
baseline, exercise, and recovery. Therefore, E and e´ velocities
can be recorded after exercise, after 2D images
have been obtained for wall motion analysis. Furthermore,
the delayed recording of Doppler velocities avoids the
merging of E and A velocities that occurs at faster heart
states, atrial flutter or fibrillation, and significant mitral
valve disease, in the absence of diastolic dysfunction. Likewise,
it is often present in elite athletes in the absence of
cardiovascular disease (Figure 2).Therefore, it is important
to consider LA volume measurements in conjunction with a
patient’s clinical status, other chambers’
whereas LA volume often reflects the cumulative
effects of filling pressures over time.