Reported normal values and weighted means for commonly used echocardiography pulsed Doppler and tissue Doppler measurements

Pulsed Doppler (PW) and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) measurements are part of every echocardiography examination for evaluation of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function and filling pressure. The purpose of this study was to summarize published data on normal values for PW and TDI measurements. A PubMed search was performed on the 10th of October 2016 to identify relevant articles. Studies were considered relevant if they included more than 200 healthy individuals. A total of 13 studies were identified. Of these, 13 studies with 7777 subjects reported PW measurement over the mitral valve, six studies with 4082 subjects reported PW measurement in the pulmonary vein and 10 studies with 5988 subjects reported TDI. We also report weighted mean values for 14 different variables. As expected, measurements varied with age. There were no major differences between men and women. In contrast, there was a large difference in reported values between studies, in corresponding age groups. This review therefore raises caution about relying on normal values from just one study.