Many indices have been proposed to describee the diastolic pressure-volume curve mathematically and permit quantification of the elastic properties of the myocardium itself in hopes that changes in the muscle caused by disease would b.e reflected in the diastolic pressure-volume curve. To date, none of the proposed indices has been shown convincingly to discriminate one group of patients from a...

Left ventricular systolic and diastolic function were studied before and after surgical revascularization in a group of 24 patients with stable angina who all had an excellent clinical response to surgery. With use of micromanometer left ventricular pressure measurements and ventricular volumes, calculated from biplane cineangiograms, left ventricular function at rest and during exercise before...

Before commenting on the findings in this article, I will provide a bit of background. ISH is the most common form of hypertension in those older than 65 years.2 Because this segment of the population is expanding so rapidly, ISH will soon be the most prevalent form of hypertension. Over the last few years, a paradigm shift has occurred, away from the prior concern over an elevation of diastoli...

BACKGROUND To determine how the tissues that surround the heart affect diastolic and systolic function during the perinatal period, we studied the pressure-diameter relation of the left ventricle in partially delivered fetal lambs. METHODS AND RESULTS We anesthetized (1.5-2.0% halothane, balance O2) and ventilated six pregnant ewes (142-144 days of gestation) and then partially delivered each...

The object of the study was to determine whether the increased mortality associated with low blood pressure in elderly people arises because of the adverse effects of hypotension or because of confounding variables. A community sample of 782 people aged 70 years and older was followed for 3 years. Blood pressure measurements were taken on initial assessment and hypotension was defined separatel...

Left ventricular pressure and segment length were measured in seven conscious chronically instrumented dogs with the pericardium intact and 3-9 days after pericardiectomy. Diastolic pressure-length plots were obtained under control conditions and after acute volume loading followed by sodium nitroprusside infusion. In all dogs with intact pericardium, volume loading displaced the entire diastol...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate whether a new variable of mitral inflow, A wave deceleration time, identifies patients with elevated left ventricular filling pressures. BACKGROUND In patients with an elevated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, the increase in left ventricular pressure after atrial contraction rapidly exceeds left atrial pressure, resulting in abrupt ...

AUTHORS' SYNOPSIS In dogs the effects of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) on right and left heart pressure relationships were studied. Right atrial pressure was a poor predictor of left heart pressures. Pulmonary artery end-diastolic, left atrial, and left ventricular end-diastolic pressures tended to equalize in normals (except with tachycardia) and after AMI. In a previously scarred left ven...

Isolated systolic hypertension is predominantly observed in the elderly because of increased arterial stiffness. Aggressive treatment leads to excessive lowering of diastolic blood pressure and favors the presence of a J-shaped curve association with mortality. We investigated whether, in the elderly, this pattern of association is a simple epiphenomenon of increased arterial stiffness and impa...