common echocardiographic method for judging the severity of regurgitation. Previous studies have used this noninvasive technique in an attempt to quantify the severity of mitral regurgitation, correlating maximal jet area and length (with or without correction for the left atrial size) with semiquantitative angiographic assessments.1-' Unfortunately, more recent studies have demonstrated a far more complex relation between jet size and regurgitant volume than originally recognized. It has also

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... een observed in vitro and clinically that color Doppler jet size depends not only on regurgitant volume and flow rate but also on the flow velocity, chamber constraint, and equipment settings.6-13 Another potentially important factor that has received little attention is the effect of wall impingement on the displayed jet size by color Doppler flow by guest on September 4, 2017