Is postextrasystolic potentiation dependent on Starling's law? Biplane angiographic studies in normal subjects.

The cineangiograms of 26 normal subjects were analyzed to study the effect of Starling's mechanism on postextrasystolic potentiation. The end-diastolic volumes (single plane and biplane) of the left ventricle were similar in the regular sinus beat before an extrasystole and sequential sinus beats after an extrasystole. However, the ejection fraction, mean normalized systolic ejection rate, mean velocity of fiber shortening and long-axis shortening were consistently larger in the first sinus beat after an extrasystole. We conclude that postextrasystolic potentiation is independent of left ventricular end-diastolic volume in normal human hearts and the compensatory pause after an extrasystole does not result in increased end-diastolic volume.