The Emerging Role of Exercise Testing and Stress Echocardiography in Valvular Heart Disease
Eugenio Picano, MD, PhD*,
Philippe Pibarot, MD, PhD ,
Patrizio Lancellotti, MD, PhD ,
Jean Luc Monin, MD, PhD and
Robert O. Bonow, MD||,*
* CNR, Institute of Clinical Physiology, Fondazione G. Monasterio, Pisa, Italy
Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Laval University, Québec City, Québec, Canada
Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium
Department of Cardiology, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Henri Mondor Hospital, Créteil, France
|| Division of Cardiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
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Figure 2 Exercise Echocardiography in Mitral Stenosis
This symptomatic patient has only moderate mitral stenosis determined at rest, with a mitral valve area of 1.2 cm2 and mean transmitral pressure gradient ( Pmean) of 5 mm Hg. However, with exercise, there is a marked increase in the transmitral gradient and systolic pulmonary arterial pressure as assessed by the transtricuspid pressure gradient (TTPG). In this patient, the exercise-induced increase in mean transvalvular flow rate (Qmean) and transmitral gradient was caused by the dramatic shortening in diastolic filling time (DFT), thus providing a mechanism for the patient's symptoms. HR = heart rate; SV = stroke volume.
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Figure 3 Exercise Echocardiography in Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation
Apical 4-chamber views of color-flow Doppler and proximal flow-convergence region (left panels) are shown in a patient with ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) along with the systolic tricuspid regurgitation velocity (right panel). With exercise, there is a major increase in both the severity of mitral regurgitation and the estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure. ERO = effective regurgitant orifice measured by the proximal isovelocity surface area; R Vol = regurgitant volume; TTPG = systolic transtricuspid pressure gradient.
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Figure 4 Exercise Echocardiography and Prosthetic Heart Valves
The mean transprosthetic pressure gradients at rest and during sustained physical exercise are shown as a function of the indexed effective orifice area (EOA) for aortic (A) and mitral (B) prostheses. Compared with Patients #2 and #4, who have large prosthetic EOAs, Patients #1 and #3, with small EOAs, show a major increase in gradient with exercise, thus suggesting the presence of severe prosthetic stenosis or valve prosthesis–patient mismatch in these latter patients. Figure illustration by Rob Flewell.
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20% using the criteria of Nishimura et al. (24) and Monin et al. (25). When contractile reserve is elicited, patients with true severe AS manifest an increase in transvalvular pressure gradient (
1.0 cm2 is considered an indicator of true severe stenosis (30). Figure illustration by Rob Flewell. AVR = aortic valve replacement; CABG = coronary artery bypass graft surgery.