[From cardiac catheterization to the study of left ventricular function. Importance of relaxation and diastole in ischemic cardiopathy].

Some of the most recent developments on left ventricular function derived from Brutsaert's work on triple control of contraction and relaxation, and on the new division of the different phases of the cardiac cycle, are reviewed. This allows a re-assessment of the different hemodynamic parameters obtained from cardiac catheterization, which were then applied to relaxation and diastole and to coronary artery disease.