Phonomechanocardiographic parameters in patients with atrial septal defect

The purpose of the present study was to noninvasively evaluate left (LV) systolic and diastolic function in patients with atrial septal defect (ASD) using the phonomechanocardiogram. We studied 40 patients with atrial septal defect, 16 males and 24 females, ages ranging from 6 to 56 years (mean 21.1 years), consecutively observed before surgery in our institution, during a four year period. We measured the systolic time intervals (Q-A2c, Q-S1, ICT, PEP, LVETc, PEP/LVET), the Apex Cardiographic (ACG) diastolic parameters A2-Oc and A/H and the hemodynamic variables Qp/Qs, Pulmonary Vascular Resistance (PVR) and Left Ventricular End Diastolic Pressure (LVEDP). We compared the data with 74 normal individuals using the Student t-test and linear regression analysis. We found significant Q-S1 lengthening (81.2 +/- 16.4 ms, p < 0.001); PEP, ICT and A2-Oc were significantly reduced (101.2 +/- 21.7 ms, p < 0.001, 20.0 +/- 5.3 ms, p < 0.05 and 117.1 +/- 26.3 ms, p < 0.001, respectively) and A/H was significantly increased (17.4 +/- 12.1%, p < 0.005). Except for the case of Q-S1, where there was a weak positive linear correlation with Qp/Qs (r = 0.37), we found no correlation between the other parameters and Qp/Qs or PVR. Sixty-seven percent of the patients had Q-S1 prolongation and a Q-S1 > 76.2 ms identified left-right shunts > 2 with a positive predictive value of 82%; 62% of the patients had a reduced A2-Oc and a A2-Oc < 110 ms identified shunts > 2 with a positive predictive value of 90%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)