Left ventricular systolic longitudinal function: comparison among simple M-mode, pulsed, and M-mode color tissue Doppler of mitral annulus in healthy individuals

Background: M-mode determination of left ventricular (LV) atrioventricular plane displacement (AVPD) allows a simple assessment of LV longitudinal systolic function. Color tissue Doppler (TD) M-mode–derived AVPD and pulsed TD-derived systolic annular velocity are more sophisticated tools. Objective: We sought to compare these 3 techniques for the analysis of LV longitudinal systolic function. Methods: Standard M-mode AVPD, color TD M-mode AVPD, and systolic annular velocity were measured at 4 annular levels in 56 healthy individuals. The time to onset and the electromechanical interval were also determined using each technique. Results: Standard M-mode AVPD (r = 0.56, P < .0001) and color TD M-mode AVPD (r = .65, P < .0001) showed good correlation with systolic annular velocity. All 3 techniques revealed an inhomogeneous systolic shifting among different annular portions. Systolic intervals showed small discrepancies but high concordance between M-mode techniques and pulsed TD. Conclusions: Standard M-mode imaging of the mitral annulus may be considered a reliable method for the assessment of LV longitudinal function.