Right ventricular pressure response to +GZ acceleration stress.

Measurements of right ventricular pressure in miniature swine were made at +Gz levels from +1 through +9 Gz. Polyethylene catheters were chronically placed in the cranial vena cava of five 2-yr-old female miniature swine (35-50 kg). The catheters were large enough to allow the introduction of a Millar pressure transducer into the venous system for placement in the right heart. The animals were fitted with an abdominal anti-G suit, restrained in a fiberglass couch, and exposed to the various +Gz levels on a centrifuge while fully conscious and unanesthetized. Right ventricular pressure and heart rate were measured during and for 2 min following 30-s exposures to each level of +Gz stress. The maximum right ventricular systolic pressure observed during +Gz was 200 Torr at +5 Gz with the maximum diastolic pressure being 88 Torr observed at +5 Gz. Mean heart rates were 200-210 beats/min at all levels of +Gz greater than or equal to +3 Gz when the animal remained stable. Mean maximum right ventricular pressures during +Gz stress were observed to increase through +5 Gz (85 Torr) and to decrease at higher levels of +Gz, indicating that through +5 Gz there is at least a partial compensation during acceleration stress. Decompensation in response to the stress began to occur during acceleration above +5 Gz with all animals decompensating during +9 Gz.