Pattern of left ventricular diastolic filling in chronic aortic regurgitation: a gated blood pool assessment.

Limited information exists regarding the pattern of left ventricular diastolic filling in moderate to severe chronic aortic regurgitation (AR). The left ventricular diastolic filling curve derived from gated blood pool scans was evaluated in 24 normal subjects and 29 patients with AR. The peak filling rate (PFR), mean filling rate (MFR), peak ejection rate (PER), PFR/MFR, PFR/PER, and the time of the rapid filling period divided by the diastolic time were determined. PFR, MFR and PER were calculated as end-diastolic volumes per second (EDV/s). PFR was lower in the AR group than in the normal subjects (2.24 +/- 0.70 vs 3.09 +/- 0.71 EDV/s, p less than 0.001). Similarly, MFR was lower in the AR group (1.31 +/- 0.40 vs 1.63 +/- 0.29 EDV/s, p less than 0.01). PER was also reduced in the AR group. Both PFR/MFR and PFR/PER were reduced, while the ratio of rapid filling period to diastolic time was longer in the AR group than in normal subjects. Clinical evidence of congestive heart failure occurred in 8 patients in the AR group. Diastolic filling variables were not significantly different from the asymptomatic subgroup of patients with AR, but were abnormal when compared with those of normal subjects. In patients with AR, an abnormal pattern of diastolic filling was noted, consisting of a reduced PFR, MFR and PFR/ with a more linear pattern of filling (reduced PFR/MFR) during a longer rapid filling period.