Isovolumic fractional rate of change of power: its applicability to assessment of ventricular performance in patients.

The ratio of the instantaneous isovolumic rate of change of power, normalized to instantaneous isovolumic power, appears to be an expression of physiologic and practical significance. This ratio, termed the isovolumic fractional rate of change of power, describes the capability of the ventricle to sustain, during isovolumic contraction, an acceleration of energy production relative to instantaneous rates of energy production. The expression is independent of assumptions of ventricular geometry, fiber orientation, symmetry of contraction or elasticity of muscle fibers. It was derived upon the basis of established principles of fluid dynamics. The expression serves in an integrative fashion by demonstrating a simple relation between characteristics of performance derived on the basis of fluid dynamics and those derived on the basis of muscle mechanics. In this study, the isovolumic fractional rate of change of power permitted distinction between patients with normal and abnormal ventricular performance (as characterized by the ejection fraction, mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening and end-diastolic volume index) (P less than 0.01). The firm theoretical basis of the isovolumic fractional rate of change of power, and its demonstrated capability to permit identification of patients with normal or abnormal left ventricular performance, recommends it as a meaningful and useful hemodynamic expression.