[Computer assisted echocardiography functional diagnosis. The question of inotropic effect of antidepressive drugs...

Computer assisted analysis is useful for measurements in left ventricular echocardiograms. After manual input in the computer with the aid of an electronic pen, dimensions and contractility are determined by our selfmade programs. The left-ventricular function analysis (on the basis of the circumferential fibre shortening rate) demonstrated for tricyclic antidepressant drugs a dose-dependant loss of myocardial contractility. This effect was pronounced by ethanol, propranolol, reserpine and was compensated by orciprenaline. Chronic ethanol consumption caused heart failure detected by this noninvasive investigation. In healthy volunteers the most striking result of our measurements was that amitriptyline-treated subjects showed a loss of myocardial contractility. After both mianserin and amitriptyline an increase of the mean arterial blood pressure and the heart rate was observed. The simultaneous investigation with the invasive and non invasive parameters of contractility in dogs demonstrated that echocardiography in combination with our semiautomatic computer-system is able to measure myocardial contractility with this noninvasive method.