Brady- and tachycardia in light of the Valsalva and the Mueller maneuver (apnea).

With a computerized impedance cardiograph we measured stroke volume (sv), cardiac output and heart rate (HR) in four men, during apnea with positive or negative intrapulmonic pressure (i.e., Valsalva and Mueller maneuver) in air. During Valsalva maneuvers the sv was reduced, and the compensatory rise in HR failed to keep the cardiac output at the control level before apnea. During both types of apnea, the diastolic pressure was increased as was the total peripheral resistance (TPR). The vasoconstriction and tachycardia during Valsalva maneuvers can be explained as a sino-aortic baroreceptor phenomenon in man. The smaller changes occurring during Mueller maneuvers result in no change in the transmural arterial pressure in the thorax, compared to the control level. Thus, without a stimulus there is no change in heart rate. The alveolar oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide elimination during apnea at total lung capacity was much larger than in the control phase before both types of apnea. The arteriolar vasoconstriction with increased TPR during the Valsalva apnea, was accompanied by a reduction in the stroke work of the left ventricle to approximately 50% of the work in the control phase.