Quantitative study of intramyocardial compression in the fibrillating heart
- 1 August 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physiological Society in American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology
- Vol. 237 (2) , H191-H196
- https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.1979.237.2.h191
Abstract
Extravascular compression inhibits coronary blood flow in fibrillating hearts. Pressure-flow curves from spontaneously fibrillating hearts whose coronary arteries were maximally dilated were examined to see whether this inhibition involves a vascular waterfall mechanism as has been found in the beating heart. Waterfall behavior is indicated when pressure-flow curves are linear and experience a zero-flow intercept at pressures greater than venous pressure. Regional pressure-flow curves revealed a zero flow intercept of 28.4 mmHg for the inner quarter of the left ventricle, indicating that compression is quite high in that region. A zero-pressure intercept of only 15.1 was found at the outer quarter, which was not significantly different from venous pressure. We conclude that the spontaneously fibrillating heart experiences a gradient of compression falling from 28 mmHg at the subendocardium to near zero at the subepicardium.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Uniformity of transmural perfusion in anesthetized dogs with maximally dilated coronary circulations.Circulation Research, 1975