Thermal therapy for congestive heart failure: estimation by TEI index.

Systolic dysfunction commonly coexists with diastolic dysfunction in patients with congestive heart failure due to myocardial disease. Also, right ventricular dysfunction is frequently associated with left ventricular dysfunction. The Doppler total ejection isovolume (TEI) index, a combined measurement of systolic and diastolic myocardial performance, is more reflective of overall cardiac function than systolic or diastolic function alone in both ventricles, and provides a conceptually new measure of global cardiac function. Single sauna bathing improves acute hemodynamics and repeated sauna therapy improves cardiac function and clinical symptoms in patients with heart failure. More recently, improvement of vascular endothelial function were observed by repeated sauna therapy in patients with heart failure. The TEI index, combining systolic and diastolic myocardial function, is a promising tool for the quantitative assessment of global cardiac function before and after thermal therapy.