VENTRICULAR PRESSURE FLOW RELATIONSHIPS IN ISOLATED VALVULAR STENOSIS

Abstract
The pressure flow relationships in severe pulmonary valvular stenosis have been studied and a careful examination of the systolic pressure pulse waves recorded during cardiac catheterization shows that they tend to conform to certain physical laws. When the lumen of the right ventricular outflow tract has been narrowed by muscular hypertrophy blood is forced through it with increased velocity and decreased pressure. This fall in pressure during systole produces a characteristic infundibular pressure pulse pattern, which has been illustrated and analysed in some detail and compared with the Venturi effect at the valve.