[Hemodynamic effects of atrial overstimulation in patients with ischemic heart disease]

Auricular over-stimulation is used by some researchers to study patients under suspicion of coronary heart disease. In this paper we discuss the changes in telediastolic pressure of the left ventricle (PT-DVI), stimulating the right auricle with increasing frequencies sent through an external pacemaker. When the ventriculography and coronarography were over, the Sones catheter was left into the left ventricle. An electrode-catheter was introduced through vein in the right auricle, the distal end being very close to the sinusal node, where the electric catch as accomplished. Through this stimulator the cardiac frequency was increased in 20 heart beats more than the basal cardiac frequency and the PTDVI was simultaneously measured every 3 minutes. Through the coronarographic study, the patients were classified in: normal, bi-vascular and tri-vascular. The increase and decrease of PTDVI was calculated in relation to the results obtained during the last minutes of over-stimulation compared with the basal figures. Most of the patients showed a decrease in PTDVI no matter what the vascular engagement was. Our results show there is no difference between the response and the coronary obstruction degree so, this evidence is of no value to judge the functional situation of the left ventricle.