Left ventricular pressure tracing in diastolic dysfunction

The left ventricular pressure is initially recorded with a scale of 0 to 200 mmHg and then at 0 to 40 mmHg. Although the systolic and diastolic pressures are normal, the pressure waveform in diastole is abnormal; there is a continuing decline of pressure over the mid-diastolic period (as opposed to the gradual rise seen in normal subjects) with the pressure nadir occurring midway through the diastolic period and there is a prominent "a" wave generated by left atrial contraction.