Clinical Research Papers

Hu W-C, Hsu T-L, Brinton TJ, Tai L-C, Chio S-S, Wang S-P, Chang M-S, Liu C-P, Veterans General Hospital- Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Systemic vascular compliance (SVC), dV/dP, is an important index of cardiovascular loading status. SVC was determined using cardiac output (CO) derived by thermo-dilution and non-invasive pulse pressure (PP) and heart rate measurement obtained by a new oscillometric technology, SVC=CO/(PP*HR). SVC measurement obtained by this method were compared to the effective arterial elastance (Ea) obtained by micromanometer tipped catheter in 30 myocardial infarction (MI) and 20 control patients. By definition, SVC corresponds inversely to Ea which was determined by the ratio of left ventricle developed pressure to stroke volume. A good correlation (r=0.85) was observed between SVC and IlEa (top figure). In order to evaluate the relationship between blood pressure load and cardiovascular loading status, SVC was compared to mean arterial pressure (MAP) in both MI and control patients. The relation between SVC and MAP is best fitted with a second order polynomial (r=0.77) and the data of both groups follows the same fitting function (lower figure). The results suggest that SVC can be accurately assessed during cardiac output measurement utilizing a new non- invasive blood pressure and heart rate technology and results are not significantly affected by disease state.

*Presented at the American College of Cardiology 45th Annual Scientific Sessions, March 1996. (See Journal of the American College of Cardiology 1996 Vol 2~ No.2, Supplement A, pg. 119A).