Echocardiographic and hemodynamic assessment for predicting early clinical events in severe acute mitral regurgitation

The diagnostic role of echocardiographic and hemodynamic assessment in acute mitral regurgitation (AMR) remains unclear. The central question of this study was to determine if echocardiographic and hemodynamic parameters can predict early clinical events in AMR. AMR was induced by percutaneously severing the mitral valve chordae tendineae in 39 Yorkshire pigs. Immediately after AMR induction, echocardiographic and hemodynamic exams were performed, and compared between those who died and those who survived within 30-days of the procedure. Echocardiographic indices of MR severity as well as the left atrial pressure showed significant differences between survivors and non-survivors in univariate analysis. Multi-variate logistic regression analysis revealed that echocardiography-derived regurgitant fraction and vena contracta as well as mean left atrial pressure could be used to segment the cohort into survivors and non-survivors. Our study demonstrated, for the first time, that echocardiographic and hemodynamic assessment of AMR provides predictive information on early clinical events in a clinically relevant animal model of AMR.