[The role of Doppler echocardiography in assessing left ventricular diastolic function. Case histories]

The aim of this study was to provide a further contribution to evaluate the alterations induced by age on a number of simple Doppler indexes of left ventricular diastolic function. A population of 48 healthy subjects aged between 15 and 78 years old was examined using pulsed Doppler analysis of the left ventricular refilling flow. Linear regression analysis revealed a significant inverse correlation between age and peak speed during rapid refilling (r = -0.80); between age and the ratio between peak speed during rapid refilling and peak during atrial systole (r = -0.92); between age and deceleration time of peak E wave speed, although on the contrary the peak speed of diastolic refilling flow during the atrial systole (r = 0.81) increased significantly with age. Variance analysis showed that indexes of left ventricular diastolic function and age continued on the contrary to be significant n the population as a whole and in both sexes. From these findings it is clear that in the different age groups (15-29, 30-49, 50-65, and over 65) the peak speed of rapid refilling flow was significantly lower in over-65-year-olds than in elderly, middle-aged and young subjects (55 +/- 0.8, 60 +/- 0.5, 65 +/- 0.7 and 75 +/- 0.6 respectively; p < 0.001). The ratio between the peak speed of rapid refilling and that during the atrial systole was lower in over-65-year-olds compared to elderly subjects, middle-aged subjects or the youngest age group (0.94 +/- 0.09, 1.05 +/- 0.13, 1.96 +/- 0.21 and 2.68 +/- 0.50 respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)