Relationship between duration of systolic upstroke of apexcardiogram and internal indexes of myocardial function in man.
In 11 patients with nonobstructive cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease and decreased myocardial function of the left ventricle, as well as in nine patients without left heart valvular or myocardial disease, left apexcardiograms were recorded during diagnostic heart catheterization, wherein micromanometers were used; ACG's were registered additionally in 54 healthy volunteers in order to establish the normal range of apexcardiographic parameters. In all cases the apex tracings were recorded by means of a pulse transducer with infinite time constant. The most important finding of this study was the close correlation between the duration of the systolic upstroke (SUT) of the apex tracing and some accepted isovolumic indexes of  left heart function (isovolumic contraction time, time interval from the onset to peak of the first derivative of left ventricular pressure, maximal value of the first derivative of left ventricular pressure, and the peak measured velocity of shortening of the contractile elements). Further, the mean value of SUT in patients with impaired left myocardial function was significantly prolonged, compared to the control subjects; an overlap was apparent due to the fact that some of these patients showed a normal left myocardial performance at rest, having an abnormal response only to exercise tests. The apexcardiographic SUT can practically always be measured when the first derivative of apex tracing is simultaneously recorded. It showed itself to be only slightly influenced by the resting heart rate. The mentioned relationship of the systolic upstroke time of the ACG to internal isovolumic indexes of myocardial function makes this noninvasive measurable parameter an additional excellent tool for the evaluation of the left myocardial state, thus supporting a new aspect of the value of quantitative apexcardiography.
D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D002302:Cardiac Output; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006343:Heart Septal Defects / Q000503:physiopathology; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D007702:Kinetocardiography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction