Open AccessThe ventricular-arterial coupling: From basic pathophysiology to clinical application in the echocardiography laboratory
Author(s) -
Francesco AntoniniCanterin,
Stefano Poli,
Olga Vriz,
Daniela Pavan,
Vitantonio Di Bello,
Gian Luigi Nicolosi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of cardiovascular echography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.255
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2347-193X
pISSN - 2211-4122
DOI - 10.4103/2211-4122.127408
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiology , ventricle , elastance , coronary artery disease , valvular heart disease , pathophysiology , ventricular function , heart failure , respiratory system
The interplay between cardiac function and arterial system, which in turn affects ventricular performance, is defined commonly ventricular-arterial coupling and is an expression of global cardiovascular efficiency. This relation can be expressed in mathematical terms as the ratio between arterial elastance (EA) and end-systolic elastance (EES) of the left ventricle (LV). The noninvasive calculation requires complicated formulae, which can be, however, easily implemented in computerized algorithms, allowing the adoption of this index in the clinical evaluation of patients. This review summarizes the up-to-date literature on the topic, with particular focus on the main clinical studies, which range over different clinical scenarios, namely hypertension, heart failure, coronary artery disease, and valvular heart disease.