To evaluate the determinants of left ventricular filling, left ventricular filling velocity was measured by pulsed Doppler flowmetry during catheterization of the right and left sides of the heart in 37 patients with cardiac disease before and during leg elevation. During leg elevation, despite no significant change in the time constant of isovolumic relaxation (T), the peak rapid filling velocity (PVRF) increased in association with an increase in pulmonary wedge pressure (PWP), but the peak atrial filling velocity was unchanged. The PVRF correlated with the pulmonary wedge V wave - left ventricular minimum pressure difference (r = 0.68) and in multivariate regression with both T and mean PWP (R = 0.73). These results indicate that left ventricular filling is determined by both left ventricular relaxation and left atrial pressure and that an increase in left atrial pressure changes the left ventricular filling velocity profile in a manner that mimics the pattern with normal diastolic function.