CARDIOVASCULAR CONSEQUENCES OF BETA-AGONIST TOCOLYSIS - AN ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC STUDY

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 64  (6) , 787-791
Abstract
M-mode echocardiography was performed before and during i.v. .beta.-adrenergic agonist tocolysis in 13 patients with preterm labor. There was a significant increase in heart rate, fractional shortening and calculated cardiac output. There was also a significant decrease in both end-systolic and end-diastolic left ventricular dimensions, which resolved in 24-36 h. There were, no changes in left atrial dimensions. The pulmonary edema occasionally complicating .beta.-adrenergic agonist tocolysis apparently is not the result of systolic cardiac dysfunction.