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Circulation. 1997;95:917-923

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(Circulation. 1997;95:917-923.)
© 1997 American Heart Association, Inc.


Articles

Effects of Aging on Left Ventricular Relaxation in Humans

Analysis of Left Ventricular Isovolumic Pressure Decay

Tetsu Yamakado, MD; Eiji Takagi, MD; Setsuya Okubo, MD; Kyoko Imanaka-Yoshida, MD; Toshiaki Tarumi, MD; Mamoo Nakamura, MD; Takeshi Nakano, MD

The First Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Pathology (K.I.-Y.), Mie University, Tsu, Japan.

Correspondence to Tetsu Yamakado, MD, The First Department of Internal Medicine, Mie University, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514, Japan. E-mail yamakado@clin.medic.mie-u.ac.jp.

Background Some experimental studies in animals have shown that myocardial relaxation is prolonged with aging. However, it is not known whether aging alters ventricular isovolumic relaxation in human subjects.

Methods and Results We analyzed high-fidelity left ventricular pressures, measured by use of a catheter-tipped manometer, and biplane left ventriculograms in 55 normal subjects who underwent diagnostic cardiac catheterization but who were found to have normal cardiac anatomy and function. There were 38 men and 17 women, ranging in age from 20 to 77 years. Left ventricular isovolumic relaxation was assessed by the exponential time constants of isovolumic pressure decay with (Tb) and without (Tw) an asymptote pressure. Left ventricular volume, ejection fraction, and wall thickness or mass were calculated from left ventricular angiograms. Neither of the time constants of left ventricular relaxation correlated with age (Tb: r=.001 to .10, P=NS; Tw: r=.02 to .05, P=NS). Left ventricular systolic function (ie, ejection fraction and end-systolic volume index), heart rate, and left ventricular wall thickness or mass, which are major hemodynamic determinants of left ventricular relaxation, were not significantly affected by aging. The multivariate analysis of age and hemodynamic variables against the time constants of left ventricular relaxation also indicated that no significant relation was found between age and left ventricular relaxation.

Conclusions In the absence of coronary artery disease, systemic hypertension, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, or hypertrophy, left ventricular relaxation assessed by the time constant of isovolumic pressure decay remains essentially unchanged with normal adult aging, at least until the eighth decade.


Key Words: myocardial relaxation • aging • pressure • hemodynamics




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