RESUMO
The authors modified the Valsalva test by employing a strictly staged dosed loading with the help of a water manometer for recording rheopneumogrammes in normal individuals and in pulmonary patients. In the absence of clinical signs of cardiac pathology this method permitted to reveal latent disorders in the contractility of the right heart and its reserve capacity. The shifts in the rheographic data of the patients differed significantly from those obtained in the normals. The obtained data indicate that the intrathoracic pressure plays a certain role in the development of pulmonary hypertension. The authors recommend the staged dose Valsalva test as a technically simple and easily available method not only for revealing the latent weakness of the right ventricle, but also for a study of the central and pulmonary hemodynamics during this excercise test.
