Tomáš Kára

Systolic and diastolic function in patients with chronic heart failure at rest and during exercise

In our study we tried to evaluate systolic and diastolic function in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) by using some echocardiographic parameters and invasively measured pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP). We studied 19 patients with CHF NYHA II-III at rest, at the end of isometric exercise (handgrip) and during a bicycle stress test. Right heart catheterization and echocardiography were simultaneously performed. We measured exchange of blood gases, end diastolic volume (EDV), end systolic volume (ESV), ejection fraction (EF), peak E velocity, peak A velocity, E/A ratio, deceleration time of E wave (DT), time of mitral regurgitation (MR) and effective filling period of left ventricle (FP). We divided patients according to the median of PCWP at rest into two groups: group A with PCWP< or =11 mmHg (10 pts), group B with PCWP>11 mmHg (9 pts). In group A mean PCWP at rest was 6+/-2 mmHg, during handgrip 12+/-4 mmHg and during bicycle exercise 18+/-6 mmHg. In group B mean values of PCWP were 19+/-6 mmHg, 26+/-11 mmHg and 33+/-5 mmHg, respectively. All values were significantly higher in group B (P<0.01). There was a significant difference in pVO2: in group A 18.8+/-3.5 vs. 14.7+/-3.3 ml/kg per min in group B (P<0.03). No differences between the groups were noticed in EDV, ESV and EF. The E/A ratio in group A was less than 1, in group B greater than 1 with the restrictive pattern. No differences between the groups were observed in MR and FP at rest. During bicycle exercise, MR was significantly longer (284+/-98 vs. 164+/-79 ms; P<0.05) and FP shorter (322+/-99 vs. 421+/-74 ms; P<0.05) in group B than in group A. The functional capacity of patients with CHF is influenced not only by EF and other systolic variables, but also by filling conditions. The duration of effective diastole may be one of the most important of them.

Humoral response in patients with chronic heart failure

AIMnCorrelation of five humoral markers with laboratory, echocardiographic and right heart catheterization parameters in patients with chronic heart failure.nnnSTUDY POPULATIONn29 patients, heart failure NYHA II and III, ejection fraction below 40% with coronary artery disease or dilated cardiomyopathy.nnnMETHODSnevaluation of thromboxane, prostaglandin F (PGF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha, endothelin-1 and big endothelin rest levels and their correlation with: (1) laboratory parameters: Sodium, urea, creatinine, fibrinogen, (2) chest X-ray: cardiothoracic index (CTI), pulmonary congestion, (3) right heart catheterization parameters at rest, hand-grip and bicycle ergometry: mean pulmonary artery pressure (AP), wedge pressure (WP), systemic and pulmonary vascular resistance (SVR, PVR) and cardiac index (CI), (4) echocardiographic parameters at rest, hand-grip and bicycle ergometry: end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), ejection fraction (EF), mitral flow E/A, filling period of left ventricle and time of duration of mitral regurgitation.nnnRESULTSnNo correlation was found between thromboxane, prostaglandin F and tumor necrosis factor alpha with the above mentioned parameters. Endothelin-1 level correlated with E/A, PVR and MPA at rest and at hand-grip. Big endothelin level correlated with EDV and ESV, AP, WP and SVR at rest and at both types of exercise. The highest correlation was between big endothelin and rest AP (r=0.79), rest WP (r=0.78) and CTI (r=0.58), all P<0.01.nnnCONCLUSIONSnBig endothelin and partly endothelin-1 levels showed a close correlation with some parameters used for the evaluation of chronic heart failure severity.