Quantification of mitral regurgitation by Doppler color flow mapping: Comparison of mitral regurgitant fraction and volume with Doppler measurements

Color flow imaging of the regurgitant areas has been used to quantitate the severity or valvular regurgitation, however, the exact relationship between color flow areas and regurgitant volumes or fraction has not been clarified. This study was designed to determine whether measurements of jet flow areas and distances using color flow imaging are closely related to the regurgitant volume (MRV: ml/beat) and fraction (MRF: %). Doppler examinations were performed in 29 patients with mitral regurgitation (MR). The MR jet was depicted as the largest clearly definable flow disturbance on the echo images and the maximal jet area (cm²) and length (cm) were measured. The MRV and MRF were obtained from the Doppler measurements of the transmitral flow (TMF) and the aortic flow (AF) as follows: MRV=TMF-AF, MRF=MRV/TMFx100. The maximal jet area showed significant correlations with the MRV and MRF (r=0.75 and 0.75, p<0.01), and the maximal jet length showed even better correlations with the MRV and MRF (r=0.82 and 0.80, p<0.01), irrespective of the etiology of MR. Thus, both the maximal jet area and length obtained from color flow imaging can be simple and useful measurement methods for predicting the MRV and MRF.