[Study of the carotid pulse with lead II (acceleration carotidogram) in cardiovascular diseases. Introductory note]

The relationship between heart dynamic and the carotid pulse has been studied by using the second derivative as a function of the time of the carotid pulse. This method permits a detailed analysis of the systolic phase of the carotid pulse: in protosystole a positive wave preceeds a negative wave and in telesystole a negative wave preceeds a positive wave. The morphology of the acceleration carotid pulse (CDA Carotidogramma Di Accelerazione), represented by a series of formulas which relate between themselves the protosystolic and the telesystolic waves, is a characteristic as well as statistically significant in each class of the cardiovascular disease in which we examined aortic insufficiency and stenosis, mitral insufficiency and stenosis, aortic angiosclerosis and hypokinetic myocardiopathy. We propose the use of the CDA for a precise analysis of the process of contraction and relaxation of the left ventricle. Since the acceleration with which a phenomenon evolves is the expression of the strength that has generated it, the CDA is particularly effective for the study myocardial dynamic.