Left atrial volume changes in mitral valve disease: a cross-sectional echocardiographic study

We used cross-sectional echocardiography to study left atrial volume changes in 25 patients with mitral valve disease who underwent cardiac catheterisation. Satisfactory 4 chamber views were obtained in 21. Left atrial systolic overload measured as systolic expansion index did not correlate with the severity of mitral regurgitation as assessed by contrast ventriculography and indicator dilution. The left atrial systolic expansion rate, and the maximum volume increase during the first third of systole, measured as the early systolic expansion index, differentiated well between moderate and severe mitral regurgitation, but not between trivial and moderate regurgitation. Calculation of the early systolic expansion fraction (fraction of total expansion occurring in the first third of systole) gave the best correlation with the degree of mitral regurgitation estimated by other methods.