Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Sep 2000
Noninvasive indexes of left atrial diastolic function in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Our goal was to noninvasively assess left atrial diastolic function and its relation to the impaired left ventricular filling in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. ⋯ Echocardiographic indexes of left atrial relaxation and filling are abnormal in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy but not in secondary forms of left ventricular hypertrophy. These indexes are abnormal in all forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy irrespective of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and distribution of hypertrophy; they are not solely attributable to left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. The above may imply that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a cardiac myopathic disease that involves the heart muscle as a whole, irrespective of distribution of hypertrophy and obstruction.