[Effect of emotional stress on the contractile function of human heart (according to the echocardiographic data)]

Cardiac function was studied by echocardiography in 12 healthy sixth-year students at mid-semester, immediately before taking an exam and 30 minutes after it. It was found that the emotional stress experienced prior to the exam is attended with an increase in cardiac output by one and a half times and external work by two. This increase of the pump cardiac function is ensured without any essential increase in the diastolic dimensions of the left cardiac ventricle at the expense of fuller blood ejection from the left ventricle and decrease of its residual systolic volume. Since the students had taken more than 50 exams in the past and were adapted to the pre-examination situation, the circulatory changes revealed may be regarded as adaptive providing for the rich flow of blood to the brain.