The relation between dyspnoea of presumed cardiac origin and disturbed left ventricular systolic function was studied in a group of 67 year old men from the general population of Gothenburg, Sweden. Forty two men with cardiac dyspnoea were identified and 45 controls were randomly selected from a screened cohort of 644 men. Dyspnoea was graded according to the World Health Organisation standard,...

The effects of passive head-up tilt on systolic time intervals were assessed in 18 patients with mitral valve prolapse. In addition to causing prolongation of the pre-ejection period and shortening of left ventricular ejection time, this circulatory stress led to progressive shortening of the Q to click interval. In 1 patient, a systolic click became audible which had not been heard in the supi...

The changes in left ventricular (LV) dynamics induced by brief periods of ischemia (100 seconds) and subsequent reperfusion were analyzed in conscious dogs. Global LV ischemia, induced by partially occluding the left main coronary artery, reduced LV flow homogeneously and impaired LV function as reflected by decreases in LV stroke "work" (89 +/- 4% M +/- SE), systolic shortening (72 +/- 4%), ve...

MLC2v/ras transgenic mice display a phenotype characteristic of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, with septal hypertrophy and focal myocyte disarray. Experimental measurements of septal wall mechanics in ras transgenic mice have previously shown that regions of myocyte disarray have reduced principal systolic shortening, torsional systolic shear, and sarcomere length. To investigate the mechanisms o...

BACKGROUND Recombinant human growth hormone (GH) improves in vivo cardiac function in rats with postinfarction heart failure (MI). We examined the effects of growth hormone (14 days of 3.5 mg. kg-1. d-1 begun 4 weeks after MI) on contractile reserve in left ventricular myocytes from rats with chronic postinfarction heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS Cell shortening and [Ca2+]i were measured w...

Residual function of the left ventricle was assessed in 25 patients with mitral stenosis and a normal left ventriculogram. The post-extrasystolic beat (R2) in sinus rhythm (nine patients) and the first beat after an early beat (R2) in atrial fibrillation (16 patients) were analysed angiocardiographically. Five subjects with a normal heart (controls) were also studied. The results are expressed ...

Changes in left ventricular size may be of importance in the development of angina and in its amelioration by glyceryl trinitrate, but left ventricular dimensions have not been measured during exercise in the upright position, the circumstance in which angina most often occurs. To assess changes in left ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic dimensions, echocardiograms were obtained from 5 ...

BACKGROUND Postsystolic shortening in ischemic myocardium has been proposed as a marker of tissue viability. Our objectives were to determine if postsystolic shortening represents active fiber shortening or passive recoil and if postsystolic shortening may be quantified by strain Doppler echocardiography (SDE). METHODS AND RESULTS In 15 anesthetized dogs, we measured left ventricular (LV) pre...

AIMS To determine the prevalence of heart failure and symptomatic as well as asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction in the general population. METHODS AND RESULTS In 5540 participants of the Rotterdam Study (age 68.9+/-8.7 years, 2251 men) aged 55-95 years, the presence of heart failure was determined by assessment of symptoms and signs (shortness of breath. ankle oedema and pulmo...

With aging, structural and functional changes occur in the myocardium without obvious impairment of systolic LV function. Transmural differences in myocardial vulnerability for these changes may result in increase of transmural inhomogeneity in contractile myofiber function. Subendocardial fibrosis and impairment of subendocardial perfusion due to hypertension might change the transmural distri...