Effect of increasing heart rate on Doppler indices of left ventricular performance in healthy men

Abstract

Objective-To investigate the effects of heart rate on the Doppler measurements of left ventricular function and to determine the normal pattern of rate dependency. Setting--University hospital specialising in internal medicine. Participants-14 healthy male volunteers 10 ofwhom were studied. Intervention: Transoesophageal atrial pacing. Main outcome measures-At paced rates of 70, 80, and 90 ppm the ratio of early to late peak transmitral flow velocity (EIA) was 1P97 (0-28), 1'49 (0-21), and 0 95 (0 11) respectively; the ratio of early to late time-velocity integrals of transmitral flow (Ei/Ai) was 3 03 (0-51), 2-11 (0'24), and 1-14 (0 30) respectively; and the atrial filling fraction (AFF) was 0-17 (0-03), 0-21, (0 04), and 0-24 (0 04) (mean (SD)). Results-Heart rate showed a linear correlation with E/A (r2 = 0 806), EijAi (r2 = 0-838), and AFF (r2 = 0-343). Neither the peak aortic flow velocity or the mean aortic flow acceleration showed significant changes during pacing at rates of 70, 80, 90, and 100 ppm. Conclusions-EIA and Ei/Ai can be expected to decrease by 0 5 and 0 9 for each increase of 10 beats/min in heart Knowledge of this relation may be useful for the development of algorithms to correct for heart rate when diastolic function is assessed.