This study was designed to assess pulmonary venous flow dynamics using transesophageal Doppler echocardiography. Under general anesthesia, we studied 54 surgical patients with no history or physical evidence of cardiac disorders. In all patients pulmonary venous flow was easily identified by transesophageal color flow mapping. Pulmonary venous flow pattern, which was obtained clearly in 85% (4654) of patients by transesophageal pulsed Doppler echocardiography, was tri- or quadriphasic. The first wave, which was often biphasic in elderly patients, occurred during ventricular systole (S wave). The second wave occurred in diastole during the early ventricular filling phase of mitral flow (D wave). The third wave was reverse flow toward the pulmonary vein during atrial contraction (A wave). The following variables were measured: the peak flow velocities of each wave (PFVs, PFVd, PFVa), and the ratio of PFVs to PFVd (PFV(S/D)). The PFVd correlated with age (r = -0.56, P < 0.001), indicating age-related decrease. The PFV(S/D) correlated with age (r = 0.61, p < 0.001), indicating age-related increase. These results would indicate that the contribution of pulmonary venous flow during diastole to total pulmonary venous flow decreases with age. Our data suggest that age-related diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle would affect pulmonary venous flow dynamics and that left atrial storage volume during ventricular systole would increase with age.