Ventricular/vascular interaction in patients with mild systemic hypertension and normal peripheral resistance

Total left ventricular external power and aortic input impedance spectra were calculated from recordings of pulsatile pressure and flow in the ascending aorta of 22 human subjects undergoing cardiac catheterization. Eleven subjects had increased aortic pressure (systolic 153 +/- 3.8[SEM] mm Hg, p less than .001; diastolic 91 +/- 2.4 mm Hg, p less than .03; mean 118 +/- 2.4 mm Hg, p less than .001) and constituted the group with mild hypertension (average age 50 +/- 1.9 years). The other 11 (age-matched) subjects had normal arterial pressures and constituted the control group. Cardiac output in the hypertensive group was abnormally high (6.9 +/- 0.3 liters/min, p less than .04) compared with that in control subjects (6.1 +/- 0.2 liters/min), so that peripheral resistance was similar. Characteristic aortic impedance (index of aortic elastance) was increased in the hypertensive group (142 +/- 19 vs 72 +/- 4.5 dyne-sec-cm-5, p less than .002), as was the fluctuation of impedance moduli and phase. These elevated pulsatile components of arterial load were associated with a significant (p less than .002) increase in pulsatile left ventricular external power (89%), and the increased cardiac output was associated with a significant (p less than .001) increase in steady flow power (31%). The ratio of pulsatile to total power was also increased (38%) in the hypertensive group (p less than .001). Increased characteristic aortic impedance in the hypertensive group suggests that the human aorta is stiffer, and fluctuations in the impedance spectra suggest increased or less dispersed wave reflections.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)