ABSTRACT
Echocardiographic investigation in the M-regimen of 29 patients with primary decompensated hypothyroidism has revealed marked disorders of intracardiac hemodynamics, manifesting in heart dilatation, reduced myocardial contractility, enlarged thickness of the intraventricular septum and the posterior wall of the left ventricle with a simultaneous increase in its volume and mass. Half of the patients demonstrated deviations in the mitral valvular movement and retarded rate parameters of movement of the valvular structures. Pericardial effusion was noted in 10% of the patients. These shifts of the intracardiac hemodynamics were evaluated as signs of the total myocardial involvement, determined by edema and myocardial dystrophic changes developing in thyroid insufficiency. It has been emphasized that despite considerable disorders of myocardial contractility in hypothyroidism even minimum propulsive heart activity is capable of maintaining a low level of oxygen consumption by tissues.
