Echocardiographic Features of the Interventricular Septum

ventricular septum (IVS) have been studied in eight patients with chronic constrictive pericarditis (CP). Values of septal thickening (ST) were clearly below normal in all cases. Interventricular septal systolic motion (IVSSM) was normal in four cases, hypokinetic in three and paradoxical in one. In seven out of the eight patients, an early interventricular septal diastolic motion (IVSDM) consisting of a sudden anterior displacement followed by a brisk posterior rebound EVEN THOUGH THE VALUE OF ECHOCARDIOG-RAPHY in the diagnosis of pericardial effusion is well defined, its usefulness in chronic constrictive pericarditis (CP) remains to be established. Several echocardiographic parameters- pericardial thickness,'-3 posterior left ventric-ular wall diastolic motion,2 4 early pulmonary valve opening5-have been studied in CP, but no specific sign has been reported. Recently, Pool and colleagues6 and Gibson and colleagues4 have pointed out that abnormal systolic in-terventricular septal motion is the most constant echo-cardiographic finding in CP; however, this feature has been noted in many other conditions.7 The object of the present paper is to analyze the echo-cardiographic features of the interventricular septum (IVS) in our cases, and to characterize a previously undescribed feature and its possible diagnostic value in CP