British Journal of Anaesthesia, Vol 81, Issue 2 180-185, Copyright © 1998 by The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia
K. Tanaka, S. Oshita, H. Kitahata, H. Kimura, S. Kawahito, Y. C. Park and T. Sakabe
The ratio of effective arterial elastance (Ea) to left ventricular
elastance (Ees) is an indicator of the coupling between ventricular
properties and arterial load properties. Another criterion for the coupling
between an energy source and its load is the principle of economical fuel
consumption, or mechanical efficiency, which is defined as the ratio of
stroke work (SW) to myocardial oxygen consumption per beat (MVO2). It has
been revealed that SW of ventricular contraction is maximized when Ea/Ees =
1, while mechanical efficiency is maximized when Ea/Ees = 0.5. The purpose
of the present study was to investigate the ventriculo-arterial coupling
during hypertension, and the effects of nicardipine on this relationship in
surgical patients using Ea/Ees and SW/MVO2 as indicators. Anaesthesia was
maintained with isoflurane, nitrous oxide, and fentanyl. Radial artery
pressure was displayed on a polygraph, and left ventricular end-systolic
and end-diastolic volumes were determined by use of transoesophageal
echocardiography. Ees was calculated as MAP/(ESVI-4), where MAP is mean
arterial pressure and ESVI is end-systolic volume index. Ea was calculated
as the ratio of MAP to stroke volume index (SVI). Stroke work index (SWI)
was calculated as the product of MAP and SVI. MVO2 was assessed by
estimating the ventricular pressure-volume area index (PVAI), which is
expressed as the sum of SWI and the end-systolic potential energy index.
Before (baseline), and 3, 10, 20, and 30 min after i.v. nicardipine (30
micrograms kg-1), Ea/Ees and SWI/PVAI were determined in 14 surgical
patients with intraoperative hypertension. Before nicardipine (during
hypertension), Ea was almost equal to Ees, whereas Ea/Ees was significantly
reduced to about 0.5-0.6 at 3, 10, and 20 min after nicardipine. SWI/PVAI
was maximized and significantly greater than the baseline value at 3 min
after nicardipine. These results suggest that, during hypertension,
ventricular and arterial properties were so matched as to maximize SW at
the expense of the work efficiency, whereas mechanical efficiency of
ventricular contraction was maximized after nicardipine.
CLINICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Effects of nicardipine on ventriculo-arterial coupling in humans
Department of Anaesthesiology, Tokushima University Hospital, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima 770, Japan; Department of Anaesthesiology, Yamaguchi University Hospital, Yamaguchi 755, Japan
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