It has been shown that the echographic motion of the posterior aortic wall in diastole is closely related to the underlying left atrial events, possibly due to the anatomical proximity of the two structures. We observed that the pulmonary artery shares a similar close anatomical relationship with the left atrium. The present study in 55 consecutive patients with adequate echocardiographic recor...

Cardiac events of early diastole were studied in 50 normal subjects and 46 patients with mitral stenosis (MS) by simultaneous recordings of the mitral valve echogram (MVE), phonocardiogram, and apexcardiogram (ACG). Left ventricular isovolumic relaxation time (IRT), measured between A2 and onset of the MVE opening motion, had almost the same values in normals 54 +/- 7 msec, and MS 51 +/- 16 mse...

• With the development of modern pressure recording systems, and more especially with the advent of currently available catheter tip transducers,* intravascular pressure may now be recorded with an exceedingly high degree of accuracy. Small oscillations in pressure traces that could not previously be clearly distinguished from "catheter-whip" artifact, or that were frequently not seen because o...

A 71-year-old woman presented with shortness of breath and involuntary head shaking. Physical examination showed nodding of the head with each heart beat (Video 1). Her pulse rate and blood pressure were 40 bpm and 125/55 mm Hg, respectively. ECG revealed complete atrioventricular block with a ventricular rate of 40 and atrial rate of 75 (Fig. 1a). Transthoracic echocardiography displayed moder...

We developed a novel technique for estimating ventricular contractility using intraventricular pulse wave velocity (PWV). In eight isolated, cross-circulated canine hearts, we used a fast servo pump to inject a volume pulse into the base of the left ventricular chamber at late diastole and at late systole. We measured the transit time of the volume pulse wave as it traversed the distance from b...

To determine whether the canine right ventricle (RV) can develop a negative diastolic pressure indicative of suction, RV pressure was measured in 15 dogs, with catheter-tip micromanometers. Six dogs were studied only with the chest closed. In these dogs, intrapleural pressure was measured medially (near the heart) in four and laterally in two. In nine dogs, RV pressure was evaluated with the ch...

The fourth heart sound consists of low frequency vibrations which are heard in presystole during sinus rhythm. Fourth heart sounds have been described during various phases of diastole in subjects with ventricular pacemakers, by virtue of complete atrioventricular dissociation and/or block.’ Although such sounds are commonly heard during diastole, there has not been adequate emphasis on their o...

BACKGROUND Although cerebral arterial stiffness may be an important marker for cerebrovascular health, there is not yet a measurement that accurately reflects the distensibility of major intracranial arteries. Herein, we aim to noninvasively measure distension of the human middle cerebral artery (MCA). METHODS Ten healthy volunteers (age: 30.3 ± 10.8 years) underwent ultra-high-field (7-tesla...

We used first-pass radionuclide angiocardiography to assess filling fraction during the first third of diastole, peak filling rate and peak filling rate during the first third of diastole as indexes of left ventricular diastolic performance at rest and after upright bicycle exercise in 32 normal patients and 68 patients with coronary artery disease. The mean filling fraction was unchanged from ...

Sitting or orthostatic positions and trinitrine-like drugs reduce venous return. We focused on the non-invasive assessment of postural-induced cardiovascular stress and isosorbide dinitrate (IDN) induced changes in 8 male patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), using polygraphic recordings by means of a Thermistor Pulse Transducer. The pre-ejection period (PEP) is sensitive to reduced prel...