DOES PASSIVE LEG RAISING INCREASE CARDIAC-PERFORMANCE - A STUDY USINGDOPPLER-ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

Passive leg raising is commonly used for the initial treatment of hypo volemic shock. However, there are many reports which have pointed out that it does not produce significant autotransfusion effect. We tried to evaluate the effects of passive leg raising on the cardiovascular p erformance in coronary artery disease patients in stable condition. We studied 31 patients of 51 +/- 10 years. Two M-mode echocardiographic and continuous wave Doppler studies of aortic flow were obtained. The first was performed while the patient was lying on the left side and t he second after passive leg elevation. Left ventricular end-diastolic dimension increased by 0.40 +/- 0.82 cm (P = 0.007), fractional shorte ning by 2.5 +/- 6% (P = 0.01), peak aortic blood velocity by 5 +/- 14 cm/s (P = 0.02), and velocity time integral by 1.7 +/- 3.0 cm (P = 0.0 007). From the above it is concluded that passive leg elevation really does increase preload, and consequently cardiac performance, by the c lassical Frank-Staring relationship in normovolemic coronary artery di sease patients.