Evaluation of left ventricular function during upright exercise: correlation of exercise Doppler with postexercise two-dimensional echocardiographic results.

The relationship of regional and global left ventricular function to aortic flow dynamics during exercise was determined in 14 normal subjects and 14 patients with coronary artery disease. Doppler and two-dimensional echocardiographic studies were performed before, during, and immediately after an exercise test by the Bruce protocol. Two-dimensional echocardiography was used to determine the ejection fraction and new wall motion abnormalities. The peak ejection velocity, stroke index, and cardiac index were calculated from the pulsed Doppler tracing. In normal subjects the ejection fraction increased significantly (p less than .001) from rest (0.51 +/- 0.07) to peak exercise (0.61 +/- 0.07), while the response in coronary patients was blunted (0.49 +/- 0.11 vs 0.48 +/- 0.16). Similarly, the change in peak ejection velocity throughout exercise in normal subjects (from 0.71 +/- 0.12 to 1.50 +/- 0.35 m/sec) was significantly (p less than .01) greater than that in patients with coronary artery disease (from 0.61 +/- 0.13 to 0.90 +/- 0.29 m/sec). There was a good correlation between the percent change in peak ejection velocity and the percent change in ejection fraction from rest to peak exercise in the entire study group (rs = .64) and in the patients with coronary artery disease (rs = .84). These preliminary data suggest that exercise-induced changes in Doppler echocardiographic variables may offer a potential adjunct in the evaluation of patients with ischemic heart disease.