An index of the contractile state of the myocardium in man.

There is a profound need, on both clinical and physiologic grounds, for a measure of the contractile state of the intact ventricle. Such a measure can be obtained by evaluating the force-velocity relationship with a correction for myocardial fiber length. The force-velocity relation can be expressed as the ratio of maximum rate of pressure rise to maximum isovolumetric pressure, a quantity which was described by Hill as the maximum rate of proportional rise of pressure and which is similar to the velocity constant of a chemical reaction. Division of this ratio by an estimate of ventricular circumference corrects for variations due to differences in initial fiber length. This index was evaluated in 11 normal subjects and 46 patients with cardiac disease during left heart catheterization. Maximum rate of pressure rise was obtained by electronic differentiation of the ventricular pressure pulse, and ventricular circumference, assuming a spherical ventricle, was calculated from volumes measured by indicator washout. The contractility index of normal subjects did not differ from that of patients with mitral stenosis, atrial septal defect, or chronic pulmonary disease (patients without left ventricular overloading). In contrast, in patients with left ventricular failure, the indices were more than two standard deviations below the mean value for normal subjects. Such a reduction was not noted in patients with pressure or volume overloading of the left ventricle before the onset of myocardial failure. During exercise, the index rose uniformly in patients without left ventricular disease, responded variably in compensated patients with volume or pressure overloading, and was virtually unchanged in patients with left ventricular decompensation. The administration of isoproterenol or digitalis resulted in increased contractility regardless of the patient's status. It is concluded that the use of this index in physiologic studies of the ventricle and in diagnostic and therapeutic decisions is justified.