Background: Mitral regurgitation (MR) is among the most common valvular heart diseases. The European Society of Cardiology guidelines advocate for an integrated approach using qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative echocardiographic parameters to assess the severity of MR. We aimed to determine the concordance of quantitative parameters assessed by the volumetric and the proximal iso-velocity surface area (PISA) methods.
Methods: We included 298 patients who underwent echocardiographic examination in 2018. To determine the grade of MR, we obtained quantitative parameters (regurgitant volume (Rvol), regurgitant fraction (RF), and effective regurgitant orifice area (EROA)) using the volumetric method and the PISA method. Patients were divided based on the EROA-determined MR grade between the EROA-PISA and EROA-volumetric methods. We analysed the association of clinical characteristics and echocardiographic measurements of the left ventricle with the concordance of MR parameters.
Results: Quantitative parameters for assessing the grade of MR using the PISA method were significantly larger than parameters using the volumetric method (p < 0.001). Comparing the grade of MR determined by Rvol, EROA or RF, we found a significant difference between the PISA method and the volumetric method, with a higher grade of regurgitation with the PISA method. The grade determined by EROA-PISA matched the grade determined by EROA-volumetric method in 178 (60%) patients. The group with disagreement in the grade of MR had a more severe mitral valve impairment assessed by the PISA method (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in clinical and echocardiographic parameters between the groups.
Conclusions: The quantitative methods for assessing the severity of MR – volumetric method and PISA method – are inconsistent in nearly half of the cases. Our results show that quantification of MR severity using only one quantitative method can be misleading. If there is a discrepancy between the results obtained by the volumetric and PISA methods, an integrated approach may be more appropriate.
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