Doppler analysis of pulmonary venous flow profiles in orthotopic heart transplant recipients: a comparison with mitral flow profiles and atrial function

Previous Doppler studies of transmitral flow profiles in heart transplant recipients suggested left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction. The influence of left atrial filling and emptying on mitral Doppler profiles in heart transplant recipients has not been studied systematically. In the present study, pulmonary venous flow profiles, mitral flow profiles, left atrial area change and mitral annulus motion were analyzed in 20 orthotopic heart transplant recipient and 20 control subjects by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography and Doppler. Mitral flow profiles revealed a "restrictive" pattern with a high early-to-late diastolic flow velocity ratio in transplant patients (2.16 +/- 0.52 vs. 1.30 +/- 0.25, p < 0.0001), which was mainly due to a reduced late diastolic maximum mitral flow velocity (32.6 +/- 8.3 vs. 51.6 +/- 12.4 cm/s, p < 0.0001). Left atrial area change (35.9 +/- 13.9 vs. 58.1 +/- 17.0%, p < 0.0006) and mitral annulus motion (9.2 +/- 3.3 vs. 12.2 +/- 2.0%, p < 0.05) were reduced in transplant recipients, compared to controls. Pulmonary venous flow parameters in transplant recipients were markedly altered during systole, when pulmonary venous flow parameters are influenced primarily by atrial function rather than by diastolic LV properties: peak systolic flow velocity (45.5 +/- 8.2 vs. 62.3 +/- 14.0 cm/s, p < 0.001), maximum flow velocity ratio (0.87 +/- 0.19 vs. 1.45 +/- 0.33), time velocity integral of pulmonary venous flow during systole (9.3 +/- 2.3 vs. 17.1 +/- 4.0 cm, p < 0.001) and the systolic fraction of the time velocity integral (52.6 +/- 10.8 vs. 68.5 +/- 6.8%, p < 0.001) were lower in heart transplant recipients than in controls. These findings are compatible with atrial dysfunction and reduced mitral annulus motion. The results of this study indicate that LV diastolic dysfunction is not the only possible cause of altered transmitral Doppler profiles in heart transplant recipients. Atrial abnormalities represent a major contributing factor to altered mitral and pulmonary venous flow patterns. Analysis of transmitral Doppler profiles alone are therefore not adequate for analysis of diastolic LV function in heart transplant recipients