[Study of left ventricular mass in pure mitral stenosis]

We studied 19 patients (13 women and 6 men), with pure mitral stenosis by cineangiocardiograms taken in the right anterior 30 degrees oblique projection. Seven patients were also studied by single element M mode echocardiography in monoplane projection. We observed a significative diminution in the wall thickness and mass of the left ventricle in those patients in which the mitral valvular area was less than 1 cm2/m2. These results were interpreted as due to a global diminution in the cardiac mass induced by a reduction in the wall thickness of the left ventricle in all segments. When the patients with diminished mass were grouped by age, no correlation between chronicity and diminished mass was observed. We concluded that the diminution of the left ventricular mass in pure, severe mitral stenosis has a multifactorial etiology; the prolonged immobility of some myocardial segments could play a role, but the fibrosis secondary to acute or chronic myocarditis could be more important.