Transoesophageal Doppler pulmonary venous flow pattern and left atrial spontaneous contrast in mitral stenosis

The relationship between transoesophageal Doppler pulmonary venous flow pattern and spontaneous left atrial contrast was studied in 23 patients with isolated severe mitral stenosis (mitral valve area = 0.8 +/- 0.2 cm2). The patients with none or minimal (1+) spontaneous contrast (n = 15, group I) were compared with those with significant spontaneous contrast (grade 2+, n = 8, group II) with regard to peak systolic velocity (33 +/- 14 cm/s vs 28 +/- 12 cm/s, p = NS), peak diastolic velocity (36 +/- 14 cm/s vs 28 +/- 8 cm/s, p = NS) and peak atrial reversal velocity (19 +/- 4 cm/s vs 19 +/- 8 cm/s, p = NS), systolic forward flow velocity time integral (3.37 +/- 1.73 cm vs 2.78 +/- 0.9 cm, p = NS), diastolic forward flow velocity time integral (2.85 +/- 1.2 cm vs 2.65 +/- 1.87 cm, p = NS), ratios of peak systolic and diastolic velocity (0.91 +/- 0.21 vs 0.95 +/- 0.29, p = NS) and duration of diastolic deceleration (117 +/- 59 ms vs 132 +/- 106 ms, p = NS). The results show that the occurrence of spontaneous contrast in the left atrium in patients with mitral stenosis is not related to the Doppler-estimated pulmonary venous flow.