Model for left ventricular contractility related to time-varying elastance based on echocardiographic measurements

Obesity is associated with haemodynamic overload. In addition to the increased preload, left ventricular (LV) afterload is also elevated in obese individuals; an increased LV mass can alter LV filling indexes. End-systolic pressure-volume relation (ESPVR) is relatively load independent and sensitive to changes in LV contractility. In this paper, end-systole ventricular contractility E_es was determined using a previously validated noninvasive single-beat method, based on two-dimensional echocardiographic and brachial blood pressure measurements. At the same time, using the results of a computer model, the correlations between non-invasive determined end systolic LV elastances and end systolic LV elastances simulated values, body mass index (BMI) and left ventricular mass (LVM), were investigated.