Editorial
The importance of long axis ventricular function
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Anatomical studies have demonstrated that there are three components to the musculature of the left ventricle, which are arranged longitudinally. These are the papillary muscles, and fibres within the ventricular wall, dominantly subendocardially, and to a lesser extent subepicardially.1 The important contribution of longitudinally arranged fibres to overall ventricular function has been recognised for many years. Surgeons now try hard to preserve papillary muscle function in both mitral valve repair and replacement, and patients do better for it. Drugs which improve longitudinal function can produce beneficial effects in patients with ventricular disease.2 Both the extent and timing of shortening and thickening of longitudinal fibres is essential to normal systolic function. And yet, despite the ease with which longitudinal ventricular function can be assessed, it has, until relatively recently, been neglected both in the literature and in clinical practice.
In this issue of Heart, Andersson and
colleagues describe a double
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Schuster, P, Faerestrand, S, Ohm, O-J
(2003). Colour tissue velocity imaging can show resynchronisation of longitudinal left ventricular contraction pattern by biventricular pacing in patients with severe heart failure. Heart
89: 859-864
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Andersson, B, Gruner Svealv, B, Scharin Tang, M, Mobini, R
(2002). Longitudinal myocardial contraction improves early during titration with metoprolol CR/XL in patients with heart failure. Heart
87: 23-28
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
