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Published on: December 11, 2017
[Effects of verapamil on left ventricular diastolic dysfunction]
1Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hospital, Shandong Medical University, Jinan.
Insights
Verapamil improved left ventricular filling in patients with diastolic dysfunction. However, relaxation improvements varied by condition, suggesting verapamil
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Pharmacology
Context:
- Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) affects cardiac filling and relaxation.
- Assessing pharmacological interventions for LVDD is crucial for patient outcomes.
Purpose:
- To evaluate the impact of verapamil on left ventricular relaxation and filling dynamics in LVDD patients.
- To differentiate verapamil's effects based on the etiology of LVDD.
Summary:
- Simultaneous Doppler echocardiography and cardiac catheterization were used in 30 LVDD patients before and after verapamil administration.
- Verapamil significantly enhanced left ventricular filling across all patients.
- Left ventricular relaxation improved in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and hypertensive heart disease but not in old myocardial infarction, with no correlation between filling and relaxation indices.
Impact:
- Verapamil's primary mechanism for improving left ventricular filling appears to be afterload reduction.
- Therapeutic effects of verapamil in LVDD are etiology-dependent.
- Findings guide personalized verapamil treatment strategies for diverse LVDD patient populations.
Abstract:
To assess the effects of verapamil on left ventricular relaxation and filling dynamics in patients with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD), Doppler echocardiography (DE) and cardiac catheterization (Cath) were simultaneously performed in 30 cases with LVDD. The left ventricular filling and relaxation indices were measured with DE and Cath respectively, before and after intravenous injection of verapamil. The result showed that after verapamil injection all left ventricular filling measured with DE were significantly improved in all cases, while left ventricular relaxation indices showed significant improvement only in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and hypertensive heart disease but no changes in patients with old myocardial infarction. There were no significant correlations between left ventricular filling and relaxation indices. It is concluded that the major mechanism of left ventricular filling improvement induced by verapamil is the reduction of left ventricular afterload and verapamil has different therapeutic effects on LVDD with different etiology.
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