The Development of a Non-Invasive Technique for the Assessment of the Systolic Hemodynamic Functions during a Cardiac Cycle.

A non-invasive technique to measure some of the hemodynamic functions of the heart throughout a cardiac cycle would be of great benefit to both patients and cardiologists. It has been suggested that the pressure profile and the flow profile during the systolic phase of the cardiac cycle could be derived from the time-activity data obtained from a gated blood pool study. Theories concerning the relationship between the time-activity data and the hemodynamic functions during systole were developed. In order to study these theories, a single chamber mechanical heart model was constructed. The model, which provides time activity, volume, flow and pressure data under variable physiological conditions, was used to verify the theories. The results suggest that there is a definite correlation between the gated blood pool data and the hemodynamic functions during the systolic phase of a cardiac cycle.