Color Flow Doppler Observations on Mitral Valve Flow in Tamponade

We studied the M-mode and two-dimensional imaging of color Doppler mitral flow in eight patients with pericardial effusion and tamponade, and in ten control subjects. Pulsed-Doppler recordings of mitral flow were also obtained in all. Marked phasic changes (presumably respiratory) were consistently recorded in all patients with tamponade with respect to brightness, hue, width (duration), and length of the M-mode Doppler color stream; in these patients, phasic changes were noted in width, length, and color of the mitral flow stream on the two-dimensionalechocardiographic recording, with reciprocal changes in tricuspid flow. In the normal subjects, only minimal fluctuations in these color Doppler characteristics were present. Phasic differences in flow velocity of mitral flow by pulsed Doppler were found between the tamponade and the control groups. Large phasic fluctuations in various characteristics of color Doppler mitral flow on M-mode and two-dimensional imaging may constitute yet another echocardiographic sign of tamponade. (ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Volume 8, September 1991)