[Differential analysis of mitral and tricuspid regurgitation by continuous Doppler]

The following parameters have been measured by continuous Doppler in 40 patients with both mitral failure (MF) and tricuspid failure (TF): effusion time (ET), peak time (PT), maximum effusion speed (S. max), maximum anterograde speed (S. ant), taking into account the cardiac rate and the ejection fraction. Only the S. max. and the S. ant. are significantly different and enable the determination of the effusion origin with a percentage error of about 4%. When a straight line is drawn to joint 3.7 m/s on the ordinate (S. ant) and 5 m/s on the abcissa (S. max), the TF lie below the line and the MF above it. The selection of the sub-groups with low ejection fraction (less or equal to 30%) or with arterial pulmonary hypertension (S. max MF higher or equal to 3 m/s) does not modify the precision of the discrimination. The graph suggested seems therefore to be a rapid and reliable means of characterizing TF in order to assess the arterial pulmonary hypertension of dilated hypokinetic cardiomyopathies.