Evaluation of stress on the autonomic nervous system of patients on mechanical circulatory assist.
OBJECTIVE
The power density values of high (HF; 0.15 to 0.4 Hz) and low frequency (LF; 0.04 to 0.15 Hz) components of arterial pressure were adopted for evaluation of stress on the autonomic nervous system of patients supported by mechanical circulatory assist.


METHODS
Power spectral analysis (PSA) of arterial pressure signals was carried out, and trends in changes in the spectral components were observed in 12 patients on mechanical circulatory support (IABP and/or PCPS) and without the support (n=10).


RESULTS
The normalized LF was depressed initially and increased gradually in both groups of patients except for four patients on mechanical circulatory assist. Three patients among them consequently died.


CONCLUSIONS
Depressed LF represented marked stress on ANS and prolongation of the depression was related to poor outcome of patients. PSA of systemic blood pressure offers a reasonable tool for evaluation of stress on the ANS and for prediction of the prognosis of patients with circulatory assist devices.
Tsutsui
T
T
Department of Critical Care Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Japan. ttsutsui@md.tsukuba.ac.jp
Jikuya
T
T
Shigeta
O
O
Sakakibara
Y
Y
Terada
Y
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D005260:Female; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology*