Regurgitant fraction

Regurgitant fraction is the percentage of blood that regurgitates back through the aortic valve to the left ventricle due to aortic insufficiency, or through the mitral valve to the atrium due to mitral insufficiency. It is measured as the amount of blood regurgitated into a cardiac chamber divided by the stroke volume.

This fraction affords a quantitative measure of the severity of the valvular lesion. Normally, no blood regurgitates, so the regurgitant fraction is zero. In patients with severe valvular lesions, regurgitant fraction can approach 80%.