Exercise echocardiography is highlighted as an important tool for objectively assessing functional status and hemodynamics in patients with mitral regurgitation.
Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the second most common valvular disease in western countries after aortic stenosis. Optimal management of patients with MR depends on the etiology of the regurgitation and is based predominantly on left ventricular function and functional status. Recent outcome studies report high risk subsets of asymptomatic patients with MR, and practice guidelines underscore the importance of a well-established estimation of exercise tolerance and recommend exercise testing to objectively assess functional status and hemodynamic factors.
Yared et al. (Sun,) studied this question.