CLINICAL FEASIBILITY OF ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC AUTOMATED BORDER DETECTION IN MONITORING LEFT-VENTRICULAR RESPONSE TO ACUTE CHANGES OF PRELOAD INNORMAL SUBJECTS

Echocardiographic automated border detection (ABD) provides an instant aneous measurement of left ventricular (LV) volume and its rate of cha nge. We tested the clinical feasibility of ABD in monitoring on-line L V response to acute changes in preload. We examined 20 healthy males i n the supine position, with legs elevated, back in the supine position , 5 min after the inflation of blood pressure cuffs at the root of the four limbs, 5 min after the deflation of cuffs. End-diastolic and end -systolic LV volumes significantly increased with elevated legs and de creased during cuff inflation; ejection fraction remained unchanged. P eak filling and peak emptying rates did not change with elevated legs and increased significantly during cuff inflation. The values of LV pa rameters were stable in the three resting conditions, demonstrating a good reproducibility of the ABD technique. Our results demonstrate tha t ABD may be useful in clinical practice for monitoring on-line small acute changes in LV volume and function.