Systolic time intervals during +Gz acceleration

Systolic time intervals (STI) were recorded in 8 healthy male volunteers before, during, and after 30-s exposures to +3 Gz, +5 Gz, and +7 Gz acceleration. Heart rate (HR) increased at all +Gz levels, as did the HR corrected QSIc interval, left ventricular ejection time (LVETc), preejection period (PEPc) and PEP/LVET. These changes in STI were also proportional to the +Gz level. At the higher +Gz levels, PEPc and PEP/LVET continued to increase early in the recovery period, but HR and all STI returned to control after 60 s of recovery. Although physiological variables other than myocardial contractility, such as preload and afterload may influence STI during +Gz the effects of +Gz on stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) were estimated using previously described relationships between STI and invasively determined indices of cardiovascular function. In general CO increased as SV decreased. During recovery, HR and CO fell and CO remained slightly below control levels, primarily because estimated SV remained low. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using STI to estimate noninvasively the transient changes in cardiovascular function during +Gz acceleration.