Does the left ventricular ejection time index (ETI) provide a consistent measure of ejection duration across varying heart rates and correlate with cardiac output?
The derived left ventricular ejection time index (LVET + .0016 HR) provides a heart rate-independent measure that correlates with cardiac output in normal individuals and heart failure patients.
The present studies were undertaken in an attempt to formulate an accurate expression of the relationship between the duration of left ventricular ejection and heart rate in man. On the basis of regression equations relating the duration of left ventricular ejection and heart rate in normal individuals, the index LVET + .0016 HR was derived and tested in normal adults and prepubertal children. The left ventricular ejection time index (ETI) remained constant and reproducible over the range of heart rate from 50 to 150 and yielded more consistent values in this range of heart rate than did previously derived equations. A slight but significantly higher value of the ETI was present in the adult females when compared to the adult males, while no significant difference according to sex was apparent in the children. A decrease in ETI was found when cardiac output was diminished in normal individuals during 60° head-up tilt and in patients with congestive heart failure. Of note was the finding of a significant correlation between the level of the ETI and the cardiac output in these situations. Submitted on December 13, 1962
Weissler et al. (1963) studied this question.