critical assessment of the experimental techniques for cardiac performance

ABSTRACT

Classical haemodynamics has been notably successful in defining the normal physiology of the Cardiovascular system, but failed to provide a clear definition and early diagnosis of a functional impairment of the myocardium, this failure is possibly attributable to inadequacy of the monitored variables of the conventional haemodynamics studies. In this article, two common parameters of cardiodynamics, viz., cardiac output and first derivatives of the ventricular pressure [dP/dt], are discussed in order to find properties of cardiac muscle which could help in distinguishing alterations of ventricular performance