Change of cardiac reserve during abnormal pregnancy and its evaluation / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the change of cardiac reserve during abnormal pregnancy and explore its evaluation methods.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 96 women with abnormal pregnancies (AP group), 356 women with normal pregnancies (NP group), and 100 women of childbearing age (CBA group) were monitored by the exercise cardiac contractility monitor (ECCM). Phonocardiogram of participants at resting status was recorded by ECCM. The amplitude of first heart sound (S1), the amplitude of second heart sound (S2), cardiac cycle, diastolic duration (D), and systolic duration (S) were detected and then the S1/S2 ratio,the D/S ratio, and heart rate (HR) were calculated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the CBA group, S1/S2 ratio and HR were significantly higher and D/S was significantly lower in both AP group and NP group (all P<0.001). Compared with the NP group, S1/S2 ratio and HR were significantly higher in AP group and D/S was significnatly lower (all P<0.001). A D/S ratio less than 1.1 or S1/S2 ratio higher than 1.8 was associated with higher risk of poor pregnancy outcomes. Among four common pregnancy-associated abnormalities, the level of cardiac reserve was lowest in eclampsia, followed by twins, gestational diabetes mellitus, and gestational hypertension.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Cardiac reserve is mobilized during pregnancy, and is especially during the abnormal pregnancies due to the heavy cardiac burden. S1/S2 ratio, D/S ratio, and HR are useful in evaluating the cardiac reserve during abnormal pregnancy.</p>

A noninvasive method for measuring and evaluating cardiac reserve of athletes / 生物医学工程学杂志

Phonocardiogram exercise testing(PCGET) is a recently developed method for evaluating cardiac contractility and the cardiac reserve of patients with heart disease and of healthy subjects. In order to test the reliability of PCGET method in physical sport, the present author conducted a clinical study. The ratio of the amplitude of the first heart sound after PCGET to that recorded at rest was defined as an indicator, i.e. cardiac contractility reserve index (CCRI). PCGET was performed on 30 athletes and 30 non-athletes. The results showed that the average of CCRI was 10.139 +/- 2.631 in 30 athletes and 6.612 +/- 3.104 in 30 non-athletes. There was a significant difference between CCRI of the two groups (P < 0.01). Thus, PCGET might be a noninvasive, convenient and inexpensive technique to evaluate the cardiac reserve quantitatively for athletes.