Regional wall motion analysis: an important tool to study pharmacologic agents in the absence of systemic effects

The authors present a method of quantitative regional wall motion analysis able to provide a precise evaluation of the effects of an intracoronary infused drug on the systolic and diastolic myocardial function in patients with aortic stenosis. The computation of the changes in regional areas, of regional peak filling rate, of an index of regional chamber stiffness and of the changes in regional area during isovolumic relaxation revealed a selective improvement of myocardial diastolic function in the perfused territory. As this improvement remained undetected when the global indices of left ventricular function were examined, it is concluded that regional wall motion analysis is indispensable to correctly assess the effects of intracoronary drug administration.<
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