Twenty cases of clinically diagnosed dilatation cardiomyopathy (DCM) were examined with the Model XJY-6 ultrasound instrument to determine the anatomical changes of their hearts and the changes of their left ventricular diastolic function (LVDF) . Twenty healthy individuals were also examined as control. The following results were observed.Most patients exhibited dilatation of all the chambers and the increase of the left ventricular weight, however, dilatation was the main manifestation. Cardiac dilatation and hypertrophy present the similar pictures on radiograph or ECG, differentiation of the two conditions can hardly be made with either of the above methods, but must depend on ultrasound especially in cases complicated with left atrial dilatation and fibrillation.The changes of LVDF of DCM patients revealed by ultrasoundfwere the abnormalities of the amplitude and rate of the posterior wall movement and of the dias-tolic filling volume and filling rate of the left ventricle. It was found that the PWE, DPWV, RFF, RER/ESV of the patients were much lower than those of the control (P

The left ventricular function of 103 normal subjects in the age range of 17 to 48 were examined with three echocardiographic methods, the Pombo's method (Method I), Fortuin's method (Method II) and Lalani's method (Method III), in order to evaluate their relative efficiency. The results were as following:( 1 ) The value of left ventricular end diastolic volume determined with Method II was larger than that determined with Method 1(123. 9?22.6vsl05. 43?26.0 ml, P0. 05).( 2 ) The values of stroke volume, stroke index, cardiac output, and cardiac index were the largest as determined with Method II, the second with Method I and the smallest with Method III. For instance, the value of cardiac index was 4.66 ?1.21 /m2/min wita Method 11,3.81?1.0 with Method I, and 2.96?0.8 with Method III(P0. 05).( 4 ) All the parameters obtained from Methods I and II were correlated with each other closely (r = 0.72 - 0.96, P0.05).( 5 ) Methods I and II are simple to operate and easy to reproduce and there have been a lot of parameters obtained with these two methodds. However the systolic mitral closure slope of Method III is rather difficult to determine and the parameters obtained with Method III are comparatively less in number.It is concluded that Methods I and I of the echocardiographic technique are the methods of choice in determining the left ventricular function of a normals-sized or nearly normal-sized heart since they are simple, effective and accurate.

Adult ; Humans ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; East Asian People ; Hypertension ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Ethnicity