Comparison of the prognostic value of lateral versus septal early mitral annulus velocity in patients with acute decompensated heart failure

Mitral annular early diastolic velocity (e′) measured using Doppler echocardiography is important for the noninvasive estimation of left ventricular filling pressure (LVFP). However, it remains unknown whether lateral or septal e′ is prognostically more reliable. Accordingly, here, we compared the prognostic utility of lateral e′ with that of septal e′ in patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure (HF). We retrospectively analyzed the data of 193 consecutive patients with acute decompensated HF. According to the 2016 American Society of Echocardiography/European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging guidelines, the cut-off values of high lateral e′ and septal e′ were 10 cm/s and 7 cm/s, respectively. Kaplan–Meier survival curves and log-rank tests were used to compare 90-day mortality between groups. For the entire cohort, 90-day mortality was 15.5%. Lateral e′ <10 was significantly correlated with higher 90-day mortality (log-rank, P = 0.026), whereas septal e′ <7 was not significantly associated with 90-day mortality (log-rank, P = 0.405). Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses revealed that the best cut-off values for lateral e′ and septal e′ in this cohort were 10 cm/s and 6 cm/s, respectively. However, septal e′ <6 was also not associated with 90-day mortality (log-rank, P = 0.141). This study demonstrated that, when comparing lateral e′ with septal e′, the former provides better prognostic utility for patients with acute decompensated HF. If a dissociation between lateral e′ and septal e′ is detected, the value measured at the lateral site may be more credible for determining LVFP in HF.