Radionuclide ventriculography in the assessment of diastolic function in hypertension.

Radionuclide ventriculography has been used for the assessment of left ventricular diastolic function in hypertension. Compared to cardiac Doppler ultrasound techniques, the radionuclide method offers the advantages of allowing numerous consecutive cardiac cycles to be examined, and of deriving the data of these examinations from automated software computer programs. For better precision, however, adequate instrumentation is required. In addition, correction factors should be applied to overcome the influence of elements such as heart rate, left ventricular end-diastolic volume, as well as the technical influence of the efficiency of counting among individuals. Its application to hypertensive patients enabled the diagnosis of early abnormalities of left ventricular filling rate in about 30% of the population studied before any alteration in indices of systolic function were detected. The mechanism of the alteration of these indices of diastolic filling rate in hypertension, however, is still not well understood.