Regional Myocardial Contraction Coupled With Energetics

Diagnosis and treatment of patients with coronary artery disease should be based on correct assessment of left ventricular regional contractile function because of the nonuniform nature of contractile dysfunction in these patients. Also, patients with hypertrophic (1) or dilated cardiomyopathy (2) have been reported to demonstrate regional abnormalities in contraction. Global indexes of left ventricular function (for example, ejection fraction) cannot detect such regional abnormalities of myocardial contractile function (3). To assess regional myocardial contractile function, many indexes have been proposed, as listed in Table 1.