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Contractility

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Transesophageal Echocardiography

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Abstract

When preload and afterload are kept constant, stroke volume is dependent on contractility, or the inotropic state of the myocardium.1 The inotropic state of the myocardium is an intrinsic property that reflects the strength of the muscle fiber, which in turn is influenced by the neurohormonal (especially cardiac sympathetic nerves) and metabolic (pH, Ca++, etc.) milieu. Traditionally, a change in contractility in the intact heart can be defined as an alteration in overall cardiac performance that occurs independently of alterations in preload, afterload or heart rate. Because of the latter confounding variables, it has been difficult to assess left ventricular contractility in humans and particularly in the acute change of settings in surgery.2–3

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care, University of Vienna, Austria

    Nikolai Kolev MD, FACC (Research Cardiologist Associate in Anesthesia and Consultant Echocardiographer, Firma Hewlett Packard) & Günter Huemer MD (Staff Anesthesiologist)

  2. University of Vienna, Austria

    Michael Zimpfer MD (Professor of Anesthesia, Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care)

Authors
  1. Nikolai Kolev MD, FACC
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  2. Günter Huemer MD
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  3. Michael Zimpfer MD
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Kolev, N., Huemer, G., Zimpfer, M. (1995). Contractility. In: Transesophageal Echocardiography. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-7676-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-7676-4_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-211-82650-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-7091-7676-4

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