Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to determine the influence of ionotropic agents upon systolic thickening and diastolic thinning of the left ventricular posterior wall. Two populations were investigated: #1--14 children with congenital cardiac disease who had echoes recorded at catheterization before and during isoproterenol infusion, and #II--8 boys with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy who participated in a double-blind, placebo controlled, cross-over study of the effects of digoxin. All echoes were analyzed by digitizing left ventricular posterior wall endo- and epicardium and evaluating % systolic time and % diastolic time at standardized time intervals. No significant differences occurred when control and ionotropic group values were compared for either group at any percentage of systolic or diastolic time. Thus, the sequence of contraction and relaxation was unaltered by ionotropic agents. However, when wall thickness values at standardized time intervals were compared before and during administration of ionotropic agents, significantly greater (p<.01) systolic wall thickening was present at each time interval. A 15% mean additional systolic thickness occurred for isoproterenol and 10% mean increase occurred for digoxin. This investigation shows that ionotropic agents do not alter the shape of the systolic time or diastolic time curves but significantly change systolic contraction magnitude.
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Goldberg, S., Feldman, L., Horowitz, S. et al. 145 THE EFFECT OF IONOTROPIC AGENTS ON THE ECHO IMAGED LEFT VENTRICULAR POSTERIOR WALL. Pediatr Res 15 (Suppl 4), 464 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-00154
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-00154