The relation between mitral annulus motion and ejection fraction changes with age and heart size

Mitral annulus motion (MAM) has recently been introduced as an index of left ventricular function. Several echocardiographic studies have shown good agreement between ejection fraction (EF) and MAM x 5, where MAM is the total mitral annulus motion, measured in mm, and EF is expressed as a percentage. This means that if MAM is used for estimation of left ventricular function, the conversion factor 5 is used, if the function is expressed as EF. In these studies, the mean age of the patients was over 60 years. The present study, including 102 patients, shows that in patients aged 20-40 years, the conversion factor is about 4.3, in patients aged 41-60 years it is about 4.6 and in patients aged 61-80 years it is about 5.0. It was also found that the ratio EF/MAM decreases with increasing height and left ventricular diameter, both variables closely connected to heart size. The results suggest that when MAM is used in assessment of left ventricular function, it is unwise to express the function in terms of EF. It is preferable to use MAM as a direct index of ventricular function, using reference values referred to aged and height. If the estimated function is expressed in terms of EF, different converting factors must be used depending on the age of the patients.