The Rate of Change of Left Ventricular Volume in Man

Because there is little quantitative information about the hemodynamics of left ventricular diastolic events in man, single-plane cineangiographic left ventricular volume curves were quantitatively analyzed at 16.6 msec intervals to evaluate the rate and amount of left ventricular filling during the early passive stage of filling and during the time of atrial contraction. The peak rate of passive diastolic filling of the left ventricle (D dV/dt), the peak rate of filling during atrial contraction (dV/dt c 'a'), and the increment in diastolic left ventricular volume due to atrial contraction (ΔV c 'a') were analyzed for a group of 110 adult patients with a variety of cardiac lesions. Normal D dV/dt, 503 ± 171 cc/sec, was significantly depressed in patients with mitral stenosis (393 ± 109 cc/sec) and coronary artery disease (394 ± 150 cc/sec). When corrected for end-diastolic volume (EDV), the resultant D dV/dt/EDV was significantly depressed in all disease states studied. D dV/dt corrected similarly for total left ventricular stroke volume (SV) was depressed from normal in patients with coronary disease, mitral stenosis, and valvular regurgitation. These data indicate that patients with coronary disease and chronic valvular disease have an abnormality in early diastolic filling of the left ventricle and that this may have a more profound effect on ventricular performance than changes in late diastolic compliance. D dV/dt has a high correlation with peak systolic ejection rate ( r = 0.71), SV ( r = 0.82), and EDV ( r = 0.51). The normal ΔV c 'a' represents 21% of the stroke volume (16% of the stroke volume if corrected for passive filling during this time period). Patients with coronary artery disease, valvular regurgitation, and aortic stenosis have an increased ΔV c'a'. Atrial contraction results in a second peak in mitral valve flow in late diastole (dV/dt c 'a'). In normal patients dV/dt c 'a' is 38% of D dV/dt, but in disease states this ratio is substantially increased. In the diseased heart atrial contraction makes a greater contribution to cardiac output than in the normal heart.