Usefulness of measuring net atrioventricular compliance by Doppler echocardiography in patients with mitral stenosis.

Twenty-six patients with severe pure mitral stenosis underwent Doppler echocardiographic examination and cardiac catheterization within the same day before the realization of mitral valve balloon valvuloplasty. Net atrioventricular compliance estimated by Doppler echocardiography from the ratio of mitral valve effective orifice area and E-wave downslope was a major independent determinant of left atrial and pulmonary arterial pressures measured by catheterization.