Correlation between cardiac catheterization and echocardiography in assessing the severity of mitral stenosis

During a 12-mth period 162 consecutive patients with mitral stenosis underwent examination by M-mode as well as cross-sectional echocardiography. The mitral valve area was measured by cross-sectional echocardiography and the severity of mitral stenosis by M-mode echocardiography. Out of the total, 69 patients underwent left and right heart catheterization and in 53 of these the mitral valve area was calculated. A correlation of r = 0.92 for the mitral valve area was found between sector scan echocardiography and cardiac catheterization, whereas the correlation between M-mode echocardiography and catheterization yielded a result of only r = 0.38. Thus the assessment of the severity of mitral stenosis by cross-sectional echocardiography is a reliable alternative to cardiac catheterization.