Regional myocardial blood flow in left ventricular hypertrophy. An experimental investigation in Newfoundland dogs with congenital subaortic stenosis.

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.