Non-invasive assessment of left ventricular contractility from end-systolic pressure-volume relation (E(max)) determined by gated radionuclide angiocardiography

Left ventricular end-systolic pressure-volume relation has been shown experimentally to be an useful index of left ventricular contractility relatively independent of preload or afterload. But the clinical application has been reported less frequently because of the invasiveness in the measurement of ventricular volume and simultaneous intraventricular pressure. We evaluated this relationship using non-invasive method such as the volume determination by gated radionuclide angiocartiography and the pressure measurement by cuff sphyngomanometer in arm. In measuring ventricular volume, gated radionuclide angiocardiography is a non-invasive method less affected by the geometry of left ventricle. Using the volume by radionuclide and the blood pressure by cuff, non-invasive determination of endsystolic pressure-volume relation provides much clinical usefulness in the assessment of left ventricular contractility