Ventricular systolic and diastolic rate indices in patients with either normal or low resting left ventricular ejection fraction

To investigate the potential uses of right and left ventricular systolic and diastolic rate indices in identifying patients with ischaemic heart disease (IHD), gated blood-pool imaging was performed for 19 normal subjects (group 1) and 56 patients, of whom 31 had resting LVEF greater than or equal to 50% (group 2) and 25 had resting LVEF less than or equal to 50 (group 3). The peak ejection rate (PER) and peak filling rate (PFR), their timing and the mean filling rate (MFR) were derived from the time-activity curves analysis. Group 2 patients had significantly reduced LV PER and PFR (3.00 +/- 0.58 EDV/s, p less than 0.005, 2.29 +/- 0.54 EDV/s, p less than 0.0009) as compared to normal (3.90 +/- 0.70 EDV/s and 3.35 +/- 0.80 EDV/s respectively). Patients with profoundly depressed LVEF had significantly low PER and PFR (1.96 +/- 0.50 EDV/s, 1.46 +/- 0.27 EDV/s respectively). However, there was considerable overlap in values between groups. Therefore, we conclude that there is no single parameter more sensitive than LVEF in identifying IHD patients with normal LVEF at rest.