The Rheoplethysmogram in Man with Aortic Insufficiency

There has been considerable interest in the hemodynamic phenomena associated with aortic insufficiency,* but most studies heretofore have been concerned with the heart and large central vessels. The works of Wiggers † and others, as well as the interesting theoretic discussions of Gladstone,18 include considerations of relationships between intraventricular and aortic pressure and volume during left ventricular systole and diastole. The rates of volume and pressure ejection in aortic insufficiency were found to be increased over the average normal circulatory states during systole and to decline rapidly long before diastole began.‡ Wiggers considered the hemodynamic changes to be due in part to regurgitation of blood but also to the sudden rise and fall of intraventricular pressure and volume ejection during systole. Changes in peripheral circulation have been considered to contribute to the production of the water hammer capillary pulsations and other hemodynamic manifestations of aortic valvular insufficiency, but these concepts