OBJECTIVE The identification of myocardial dysfunction in septic shock has not yet been fully elucidated. We therefore studied patients with persistently vasopressor-dependent septic shock, both with invasive haemodynamic monitoring and transoesophageal two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography (TEE). METHODS Prospective study. METHODS General ICU in University Hospital. METHODS All patients were monitored with arterial and pulmonary artery catheters. Haemodynamics were obtained concomitantly with TEE measurements. TEE was performed at three levels: a) a midpapillary short axis view of the left ventricle (LV) in order to measure end-systolic and end-diastolic areas; b) at the level of both the mitral valve for early (E) and late (A) filling parameters and c) the level of the right upper pulmonary vein for systolic (S) and diastolic (D) filling characteristics. Each parameter was characterised by maximal flow velocity and time velocity integral. RESULTS Although the measurements of cardiac index demonstrated a wide range, three subsets of patients were identified post hoc after analysis on the basis of different Doppler patterns: first, patients with a LV without regional wall motion abnormalities and both E/A and S/D greater than 1 (group 1); second, patients with a comparable haemodynamic condition, apparently normal LV systolic function but with altered Doppler patterns: S/D less than 1 in conjunction with E/A more than 1 (group 2); finally, patients with compromised global LV systolic function, E/A less than 1 and S/D less than (group 3). CONCLUSIONS Notwithstanding the known various interfering factors which limit the broad applicability of TEE to determine LV function in septic shock, our data suggest that cardiac dysfunction in septic shock shows a continuum from isolated diastolic dysfunction to both diastolic and systolic ventricular failure. These data strengthen the need of including the evaluation of pulmonary venous Doppler parameters in each investigation in order to obtain supplementary information to interpret diastolic function of the LV in septic shock patients.