[Usefulness of the rheocardiogram for determination of left ventricular contraction periods in patients with chronic circulatory failure].

Simultaneous determinations were carried out of the basic periods of left-ventricular contraction by the polycardiographic Weissler method and by impedance rheocardiography. The studied material comprised 40 patients with chronic circulatory failure. Both methods were found to differentiate adequately groups of patients with various degrees of circulatory failure, and a high positive correlation was demonstrated between the results obtained with both methods. Impedance rheocardiography was shown to be particularly useful in patients with chronic circulatory failure, since it was well tolerated by the patients and made possible easy determination of points corresponding to the basic phenomena in the cardiac cycle which are indispensable for the determination of left-ventricular contraction periods.