Noninvasive Assessment of Diastolic Intraventricular Pressure Gradients in a Large General Population (the Asklepios Study)

Accurate assessment of diastolic (dys)function by non-invasive techniques has important therapeutic and prognostic implications but remains a challenge to the cardiologist. A promising parameter to evaluate diastolic (dys)function more accurately is the early diastolic intraventricular pressure gradient (IVPGe) which is considered representative of the active relaxation of the left ventricle. It has been shown that IVPGe can be estimated non-invasively by measuring blood velocities along a base-to-apex scan line using color M-mode Doppler (CMD) echography [1]. Although this technique is known for about 20 years, IVPGe is still not used in daily clinical practice because its approach is complicated and too laborious [2].