The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 84, 876-885, Copyright © 1982 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Regional myocardial blood flow in left ventricular hypertrophy. An experimental investigation in Newfoundland dogs with congenital subaortic stenosis
AM Borkon, M Jones, JH Bell and JE Pierce
To test the hypothesis that left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) may
predispose the subendocardium to ischemia, we studied regional myocardial
blood flow in dogs with the fibrous ring form of subvalvular aortic
stenosis and concentric LVH. Radioactive microspheres, 9 +/- 1 mu in
diameter, were used. Eleven dogs with LVH (left ventricular body weight
ratio of 6.35 +/- 0.46 gm/kg [mean +/- SEM] and peak left ventricular
outflow gradient of 51 +/- 7 mm Hg) were compared to 12 normal dogs (left
ventricular/body weight ratio of 3.41 +/- 0.12 gm/kg and peak left
ventricular outflow gradient of 6 +/- 3 mm Hg). The two groups of dogs were
subjected to comparable experimental interventions including (1)
tachycardia produced by atrial pacing (221 +/- 4 beats/min), (2) ascending
aortic constriction producing systolic hypertension (212 +/- 5 mm Hg), and
(3) creation of an aortic-right atrial fistula lowering diastolic blood
pressure (38 +/- 3 mm Hg). Basal regional myocardial blood flow was
distributed similarly for LVH and normal dogs (endocardial/epicardial ratio
= 0.90 +/- 0.05 and 0.94 +/- 0.03, respectively). During experimental
interventions, regional blood flow remained equal to all myocardial layers
in normal dogs; however, the endocardial/epicardial ratio diminished in LVH
dogs during atrial tachycardia to 0.61 +/- 0.08, during systolic
hypertension to 0.68 +/- 0.06, and during diastolic hypotension to 0.50 +/-
0.09. When the diastolic/systolic pressure time index ratio (DPTI/SPTI) was
less than 0.8, subendocardial ischemia occurred in dogs with LVH
(endocardial/epicardial ratio = 0.66 +/- 0.04) but not in normal dogs
(endocardial/epicardial ratio = 0.92 +/- 0.03) (p less than 0.0001).
Animals with infracoronary obstruction and LVH demonstrate greater
susceptibility to development of subendocardial ischemia for identical
hemodynamic interventions than do normal animals.