[Contribution of doppler echocardiography in the evaluation of ventricular filling in cardiac insufficiency and estimation of filling pressures].

The study of diastolic function is an essential step in Doppler echocardiographic investigation of cardiac failure. Although the recording of transmitral flow remains the basis of analysis of diastolic function, it should be completed by other Doppler parameters. In fact, the simple analysis of transmitral flow is not sufficient because of the interplay of other factors, especially the preload. The authors describe the complementary ultrasonographic approaches for analysis of diastolic function, especially the ventricular filling pressures, by recording of pulmonary venous flow, the kinetics of the mitral annulus and the propagation of intra-ventricular flow.