Predictive value of pulmonary venous flow patterns in detecting mitral regurgitation and left ventricular abnormalities.

To determine whether abnormalities in pulmonary venous flow (PVF) patterns detected by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) correlate with the severity of mitral regurgitation (MR) or the presence of left ventricular (LV) abnormalities, and to demonstrate whether a normal PVF pattern predicts the absence of structural heart disease.Review of all TEEs performed at a tertiary care cardiac hospital over a four-month period.Among 195 studies, 100 fulfilled the inclusion criteria.PVF was categorized into three patterns, which have been described previously. A normal PVF pattern predicted the absence of clinically significant MR with a high degree of certainty (positive predictive value [PPV] 98%). However, it did not predict the absence of structural cardiac disease (PPV 64%). A PVF pattern that showed systolic flow reversal was strongly predictive of the presence of significant MR (sensitivity 86%, specificity 100%, PPV 100%). The frequency of significant MR in this group was much higher than in patients with normal PVF (12 of 12 versus one of 66, P<0.0001). Patients with a blunted PVF pattern were more likely than patients with a normal PVF to have LV abnormalities (18 of 22 versus 23 of 66, P=0.0005). However, a blunted PVF was not associated with clinically significant MR.A normal PVF does not rule out the absence of LV abnormalities but confirms the absence of significant MR. Systolic flow reversal is highly predictive of the presence of significant MR. A blunted PVF is more likely to be associated with LV abnormalities than with MR and has limited usefulness in the diagnosis of significant MR.