Usefulness of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction obtained by radionuclide ventriculogram in coronary artery disease

Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction is common in coronary artery disease. Equlibrium gated radionuclide ventriculography (RNV) is a simple noninvasive method in evaluation of LV dysfunction. In sixty consecutive patients with CAD, 53.1% of cases having ejection fraction more then 55% showed subnormal peak diastolic filling rate (mean =1.94±0.26 EDV/sec). Among patients with ejection fraction between 40 and 55%, 73.3% had abnormal diastolic function. In patients with ejection fraction below 40%, 100% had diastolic dysfunction. There was good correlation between ejection fraction and peak diastolic filling rate (r=0.65, p=<0.001). RNV provides an accurate test to detect LV diastolic dysfunction. (author). 7 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab