[Morpho-functional changes of left ventricle produced by sublingual nitroglycerin (author's transl)]

Two successive left ventriculargraphs [in basal conditions and after Nitroglycerin (TNG)] were performed with the same technical procedures in 20 patients before coronary arteriography. End-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and ejection fraction were studied following Greene's modified method. Diastolic and systolic ventricular projected images were divided into four zones and their variations were evaluated after TNG. Two patients did not show any significant abnormality (pseudoangor); two others suffered from cardiomyopathy (myocardosis) with mitral regurgitation and no coronary artery disease; two had restrictive cardiomyopathy. Fourteen had a coronary artery disease: seven of them had signs of end-systolic mitral regurgitation. End-diastolic and end-systolic volumes decreased and ejection fraction increased after TNG in all of these cases except in the two suffering from cardiomyopathy (ESV increased and EF decreased). Mitral regurgitation disappeared in all of them. In patients with coronary artery disease and mitral regurgitation the volume variations were slighter, and the increase of EF was larger than in the other cases. Finally, a decrease in asynergic and hypokinetc zones was observed, whereas no variations were seen in diskinetic zones. TNG can improve left ventricular kinetics by decreasing the pre-load, the after-load and myocardial oxygen consumption. Demonstration of this improvement could be of prognostic value.