Relationship between apexcardiogram, left ventricular pressure and wall stress.
Simultaneous measurement of left ventricular dimension and wall thickness by M-mode echocardiography, of left ventricular pressure by a tip-transducer manometer, and of the calibrated apexcardiogram with a pixie beam transducer, were made during acute experiments on anaesthetized dogs. Instantaneous values for chamber dimensions and wall thickness were obtained throughout the heart cycle by digitizing the echo-mechanocardiograms. From these data myocardial stresses, derived from a thick shell theory (meridional and circumferential components) and from Laplace's law, were computed. Laplace stress if shown to be an adequate expression for average wall stress. Its value was correlated with the calibrated apexcardiogram. The present investigation suggests that to a certain extent, the apexcardiogram not only reflects pressure changes but also dimensional changes of the left ventricle.
D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D007702:Kinetocardiography / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D016276:Ventricular Function