AI Article Synopsis

  • This study aimed to understand the importance of identifying whether a failing heart is on the descending limb of the Starling curve using echocardiography with passive leg lifting (PLL).
  • It was found that in 43% of patients, left ventricular stroke volume (LVSV) decreased unexpectedly despite increased pre-load from PLL, highlighting a potential issue with functional mitral regurgitation.
  • The paradoxical decrease in LVSV was a strong predictor of poor outcomes, including cardiac death or hospitalization, suggesting that recognizing this change can improve prognosis in heart failure patients.

Article Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to clarify the prognostic significance of diagnosing whether the failing heart is functioning on the descending limb of the Starling curve by using echocardiography with passive leg lifting (PLL).

Background: Patients with advanced heart failure can shift to the descending limb of the Starling curve, in which pre-load does not lead to an expected increase in forward left ventricular stroke volume (LVSV).

Methods: Thirty-five consecutive patients with left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction of <40% underwent echocardiography at rest during baseline and during PLL to increase pre-load.

Results: Despite PLL, a paradoxical decrease in forward LVSV was observed in 15 (43%) patients. Changes in forward LVSV inversely correlated with those in functional mitral regurgitation (r = -0.56). The primary endpoint of cardiac death or hospitalization due to worsening heart failure occurred in 15 (43%) patients during follow-up (2.8 ± 2.2 years). There were a number of significant predictors of the primary endpoint in the univariate Cox analysis: baseline E/A ratio (p = 0.0002), paradoxical decrease in LVSV despite PLL (hazard ratio: 4.44; 95% confidence interval: 1.41 to 14.0; p = 0.011), baseline LV end-systolic volume (p = 0.023), and baseline LV ejection fraction (p = 0.034). In the bivariate Cox analysis, an addition of the paradoxical decrease in LVSV significantly enhanced the predictive power of all other univariate predictors.

Conclusions: Heart failure patients with LV systolic dysfunction on the descending limb of the Starling curve can be recognized by the paradoxical decrease in LVSV despite PLL, and the prognostic predicting power is additive to the other traditional echocardiographic predictors. Also, our results suggest that functional mitral regurgitation is an important reason for the descending limb of the Starling curve, which is clinically recognized as the pre-load-induced decrease in forward LVSV.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmg.2016.07.010DOI Listing

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