Deciphering the Rosetta Stone - Trans-Mitral Doppler Patterns for a Simplified Study of Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction

Abstract

There is a renewed interest in heart failure treatments. With this, there is an increasing interest in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Trans-mitral Doppler is commonly used in the assessment of ‘diastolic’ function. It is fashionable to discuss diastolic dysfunction and diastology with the result that the more important systolic dysfunction has become passé. The current literature equates trans-mitral Doppler patterns to diastolic function when actually it is more relevant in systolic dysfunction. This article is an attempt to correct this flawed perception of trans-mitral Doppler.