Left Ventricular Wall Stress Calculated from One-Plane Cineangiography

Abstract
Left ventricular dimensions from routine clinical one-plane cineangiograms were combined with left ventricular pressure measurements to permit calculation of left ventricular wall stresses. The 25 patients included 12 with normal left ventricular dynamics, 6 with volume overload, 3 with outflow obstruction, and 4 with cardiomyopathy. Average stresses calculated on the basis of an ellipsoid model agreed with average values obtained from the exact solution of a thick-walled elastic ellipsoidal shell. Peak values were 150 to 625 g/cm2 in the circular direction and 75 to 365 g/cm2 in the longitudinal direction. A fiber-corrected stress was defined which represents a force per muscle fiber. The variation in fiber-corrected stress during the cardiac cycle may be considerably different from the variation in simple stress. The force-velocity characteristics of circular fibers for the 25 patients are presented. The data on peak wall stress overlap in the four groups of patients. Peak velocity of circumferential fi...