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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jul 29.
Published in final edited form as: Circ Heart Fail. 2011 May 3;4(4):425–432. doi: 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.111.961326

Table 4.

Mean contractile parameters among control patients and patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy before and after LVAD implantation.

Before LVAD After LVAD P-value* Nonfailing
Fmax (mN/mm2) 3.6 ± 0.9 7.3 ± 1.8 <0.001 17.6 ± 1.8†
pCa50 5.89 ± 0.08 6.03 ± 0.28 0.257 5.85 ± 0.14
Hill coefficient 1.64 ± 0.28 1.55 ± 0.45 0.579 2.30 ± 0.81‡

The Fmax is the maximum calcium-saturated developed force normalized to the cross-sectional area of the myocytes, pCa50 is the calcium concentration at which the force is half maximal and represents a measure of myofilament calcium sensitivity, Hill coefficient is the slope of the calcium-force relation and is an index of myofilament cooperative activation.

*

P-value for comparison between Before LVAD and After LVAD

†

P<0.001 for comparisons of Fmax between Before LVAD vs. Nonfailing and After LVAD vs. Nonfailing

‡

P<0.05 for comparisons of Hill coefficient between Before LVAD vs. Nonfailing and After LVAD vs. Nonfailing