title: Activity of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and sympathetic nervous system and their relation to hemodynamic and clinical abnormalities in infants with left-to-right shunts.
abstract: We studied neurohormonal, clinical and invasively measured hemodynamic data of 47 infants with left-to-right shunts and varying degrees of congestive failure. When referred to a clinical heart failure score, plasma renin activities (r=0.71) and norepinephrine levels (r=0.43) are significantly increased. Arterial hypotension seems to be the hemodynamic trigger of renin release (r=-0.72), but not decreased systemic cardiac index (r=-0.43), the magnitude of the left-to-right shunt (r=0.33) or a reduced ejection fraction (r=0.12). These data indicate neurohormonal activation in infants with left-to-right shunts with preserved myocardial function is similar to the activation in adults with heart failure secondary to myocardial pump failure. These findings have to be considered for optimal medical treatment of these infants with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or beta-blockers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Georg-August-University, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, 37075, Göttingen, Germany. rbuchho@gwdg.de16
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buchhorn
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bartmus
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wessel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hulpke-Wette
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bürsch
mesh_terms: D000450:Aldosterone / Q000097:blood; D002303:Cardiac Output, Low / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood; D012083:Renin / Q000097:blood; D012084:Renin-Angiotensin System; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D000450:Aldosterone; D012083:Renin; D009638:Norepinephrine