Aortic root motion determined by ultrasound: relation to cardiac performance in man

The purpose of this study was to determine if aortic root systolic anteroposterior excursion measured ultrasonically is related to cardiac performance. Aortic motion was 9 +/- 1.5 mm (mean +/- SD) in 30 normal subjects (range 7-12 mm). Ten patients with coronary artery disease and congestive failure and 10 with congestive cardiomyopathy had significantly smaller values of 4 +/- 1.2 and 5 +/- 1.7 mm, respectively (P less than 0.001). In 28 subjects undergoing cardiac catheterization, aortic root motion correlated positively with stroke volume (r = 0.59), but did not correlate significantly with ejection fraction. By increasing heart rate in 14 subjects from 75 to 174 beats/min with atrial pacing, stroke volume decreased from 81 +/- 22 to 34 +/- 14 ml/beat and aortic excursion from 10 +/- 1.6 to 5 +/- 1.5 mm (P less than 0.001). This study has shown: 1) Aortic root motion less than or equal to 6 mm indicates left ventricular dysfunction; 2) stroke volume correlates positively with, but cannot be accurately predicted from, root motion.