Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Heart Journal logoLink to British Heart Journal
. 1975 Mar;37(3):272–276. doi: 10.1136/hrt.37.3.272

Effects of high altitude hypoxia on left ventricular systolic time intervals in man.

V Balasubramanian, V S Kaushik, S C Manchanda, S B Roy
PMCID: PMC483965  PMID: 1138731

Abstract

Effects of high altitude hypoxia on systolic time intervals were examined in 34 healthy men: 20 sea level residents studied at rest and at the end of 3 minutes steady isometric (handgrip) exercise at sea level and then serially for the first 5 days and on the tenth day, at an altitude of 3658 m, and I4 permanent residents at high altitude studied at high altitude. In the sea level residents there was a significant increase in the pre-ejection period (PEP), abbreviation of the left ventricular ejection time (LVET), both corrected for heart rate, and prolongation of the PEP/LVET ratio at high altitude. The maximum changes were seen on days 2 and 3; these parameters tended to approach sea level control values by the tenth day. The systolic time interval values of high altitude residents were similar to the control values of the sea level residents obtained at sea level but significantly different from the changes in the sea level values seen in the first 4 days at high altitude. It thus appears that while the high altitude residents do not show any left ventricular dysfunction as determined by systolic time intervals, healthy sea level residents when exposed to high altitude hypoxia show a significant depression of the left ventricular function for at least the first 4 days. This might be a contributing factor in the genesis of high altitude pulmonary oedema.

Full text

PDF
272

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Büyüköztürk K., Kimbiris D., Segal B. L. Systolic time intervals. Relation to severity of coronary artery disease, intercoronary collateralization and left ventricular dyskinesia. Am J Cardiol. 1971 Aug;28(2):183–190. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(71)90368-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Diamant B., Killip T. Indirect assessment of left ventricular performance in acute myocardial infarction. Circulation. 1970 Oct;42(4):579–592. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.42.4.579. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Flessas A. P., Kumar S., Spodick D. H. Effects of the Valsalva maneuver on the cardiac systolic intervals: beat-to-beat versus timed analysis. Am Heart J. 1970 Oct;80(4):522–531. doi: 10.1016/0002-8703(70)90201-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. HULTGREN H. N., LOPEZ C. E., LUNDBERG E., MILLER H. PHYSIOLOGIC STUDIES OF PULMONARY EDEMA AT HIGH ALTITUDE. Circulation. 1964 Mar;29:393–408. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.29.3.393. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Khanna P. K., Shah P. M., Kramer D. H., Schaefer R. A., Tager I. Effects of altered preload on left ventricular systolic time intervals in acute myocardial infarction. Br Heart J. 1973 Nov;35(11):1102–1108. doi: 10.1136/hrt.35.11.1102. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kowalsky N. B., Anthony J. R. Cardiac electro-mechanical time intervals as indices of hypoxic circulatory stress in man. Aerosp Med. 1972 Apr;43(4):361–367. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lindquist V. A., Spangler R. D., Blount S. G., Jr A comparison between the effects of dynamic and isometric exercise as evaluated by the systolic time intervals in normal man. Am Heart J. 1973 Feb;85(2):227–236. doi: 10.1016/0002-8703(73)90464-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. MOSKOWITZ R. L., WECHSLER B. M. LEFT VENTRICULAR EJECTION TIME IN AORTIC AND MITRAL VALVE DISEASE. Am J Cardiol. 1965 Jun;15:809–814. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(65)90383-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Penaloza D., Sime F. Circulatory dynamics during high altitude pulmonary edema. Am J Cardiol. 1969 Mar;23(3):369–378. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(69)90517-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Perloff J. K., Talano J. V., Ronan J. A., Jr Noninvasive techniques in acute myocardial infarction. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 1971 Mar;13(5):437–464. doi: 10.1016/0033-0620(71)90011-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Pigott V. M., Spodick D. H., Rectra E. H., Khan A. H. Cardiocirculatory responses to exercise: physiologic study by noninvasive techniques. Am Heart J. 1971 Nov;82(5):632–641. doi: 10.1016/0002-8703(71)90332-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Roy S. B., Guleria J. S., Khanna P. K., Manchanda S. C., Pande J. N., Subba P. S. Haemodynamic studies in high altitude pulmonary oedema. Br Heart J. 1969 Jan;31(1):52–58. doi: 10.1136/hrt.31.1.52. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. SINGH I., KAPILA C. C., KHANNA P. K., NANDA R. B., RAO B. D. HIGH-ALTITUDE PULMONARY OEDEMA. Lancet. 1965 Jan 30;1(7379):229–234. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(65)91520-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Siegel W., Gilbert C. A., Nutter D. O., Schlant R. C., Hurst J. W. Use of isometric handgrip for the indirect assessment of left ventricular function in patients with coronary atherosclerotic heart disease. Am J Cardiol. 1972 Jul 11;30(1):48–54. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(72)90124-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Spodick D. H., Dorr C. A., Calabrese B. F. Detection of cardiac abnormality by clinical measurement of left ventricular ejection time. A prospective study of 200 unselected patients. JAMA. 1969 Jul 14;209(2):239–242. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. WEISSLER A. M., KAMEN A. R., BORNSTEIN R. S., SCHOENFELD C. D., COHEN S. THE EFFECT OF DESLANOSIDE ON THE DURATION OF THE PHASES OF VENTRICULAR SYSTOLE IN MAN. Am J Cardiol. 1965 Feb;15:153–161. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(65)90449-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Weissler A. M., Harris W. S., Schoenfeld C. D. Bedside technics for the evaluation of ventricular function in man. Am J Cardiol. 1969 Apr;23(4):577–583. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(69)90012-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Weissler A. M., Harris W. S., Schoenfeld C. D. Systolic time intervals in heart failure in man. Circulation. 1968 Feb;37(2):149–159. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.37.2.149. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Heart Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES