Non-invasive assessment of changes in left ventricular diastolic time intervals after acute blood volume reduction in haemodialysis

The effects of acute blood volume reduction induced by haemodialysison diastolic time intervals were studied in 19 patients by echo-and phonocardiography. Haemodialysis significantly decreasedleft ventricular diameters. The isovolumic relaxation time wasprolonged and negatively correlated with left ventricular enddiastolic dimensions. To study the effect of load reductionon left ventricular filling time, cardiac cycles with the sameR–R interval, before and after haemodialysis, were compared.At any given R–R interval dialysis resulted in a significantprolongation of the filling time. This study shows that diastolictime intervals are dependent on left ventricular loading conditions,and this effect should be considered when these time intervalsare evaluated in the clinical setting.