The study of left ventricular diastolic function by Doppler echocardiography: the essential for the clinician

An abnormal diastolic function of left ventricle represents the main pathophysiological mechanism responsible for different clinical states such as restrictive cardiomyopathy, infiltrative myocardial disease and, specially, diastolic heart failure (also called heart failure with preserved systolic function), which is present in a large number of patients with a clinical picture of pulmonary congestion. Although the invasive approach, through cardiac catheterization allowing the direct measurement of left ventricular filling pressure, myocardial relaxation and compliance, is considered the gold standard for the identification of diastolic dysfunction, several noninvasive methods have been proposed for the study of left ventricular diastolic function. Doppler echocardiography represents an excellent noninvasive technique to fully characterize the diastolic function in health and disease. (Heart International 2007; 3: 42-50)