Cardiac Work in Patients After Heart Transplant: A Novel Index to assess the Left Ventricular Function

Background: Traditional parameters for assessment of left ventricle (LV) systolic function include ejection fraction and shortening fraction. However, these parameters do not take into consideration the role of afterload on the LV systolic function. Cardiac work, a parameter which combines afterload and LV cardiac output to assess cardiac pumping ability, is defined as the product of cardiac output and mean arterial pressure (MAP). In adults with chronic heart failure, low resting cardiac work has been associated with adverse outcomes, including mortality. However, …