Clinical Investigations Extent of Coronary Artery Involvement, Wall Motion Abnormalities and Left Ventricular Diastolic Function

The present study was performed on 170 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 20 normal control subjects. The influences of the extent of artery involvement and wall motion abnormalities (WMA) on left ventricular diastolic function (LVDF) at rest were assessed by pulsed Doppler echocardiography. Following parameters were evaluated: age, early "peak" filling rate (E)/late "peak" filling rate (A) ratio, deceleration half time and deceleration rate, When the normal control group and CAD patient group were compared for the Doppler parameters, significant impairment in LVDF was seen in patients with 1, 2 and 3-vessel disease and no WMA (p<0.001). Regarding the Doppler abnormalities, no significant differences were found among patients with 1, 2 and 3-vessel disease and no WMA. Furthermore, no differences were found in Doppler measurements of the CAD patient group between those with and those without WMA (p>0.05). In conclusion, our study suggests that the extent of involvement of coronary arteries and the presence of WMA do not significantly influence the impaired global LVDF in patients with CAD.