Early changes in ventricular function in diastolic phase in the resting coronary patient

: The aim of this study is to test left ventricular diastolic function in coronary artery disease patients with preserved systolic performance. Two groups of patients (25 coronary artery disease patients with angiographic proved coronary artery stenosis, but with normal hemodynamic and angiographic indices of systolic phase, first group; and 14 normal subjects for control, second group) were tested comparing their systolic and diastolic ventricular function indices, obtained by using a Millar microtip catheter and a computerized program. Systolic ventricular function was similar in the two groups (EF: 0.61 +/- 0.05 vs 0.62 +/- 0.03, p: n.s.; Vmax:120 +/- 28 vs 112 +/- 24 sec-1, p: n.s.), while diastolic indices were significantly different (lowest diastolic pressure: 3.7 +/- 2.4 vs -1.72 +/- 1.45 mmHg, p less than 0.01; end-diastolic pressure: 11.2 +/- 4.2 vs 6.5 +/- 2.8 mmHg, p less than 0.05; T constant: 45 +/- 8 vs 35 +/- 6 mmHg, p less than 0.001; end-diastolic compliance: 2.79 +/- 0.3 X 10(-2) vs 5.68 +/- 0.4 X 10(-2) mmHg-1, p less than 0.001; Kp: 0.041 +/- 0.006 vs 0.003 +/- 0.004 p less than 0.001). In conclusion, impairment of left ventricular diastolic phase may be one of the earliest manifestations of functional alterations of ischemic ventricle.