Emax : As a New Index of Left Venticular Inotropic State

The search for a useful index which assesses the intropic state of the myocardium of the whole heart independent of afterload and preload has been continuing and important one. Experimental studies have documented. That the left ventricular endsystolic pressure-volume relation is linear within the physiologic range. The slope of the resultant line, Emax, is independent of afterload and preload, but is sensitive to the change of inotropic state. Thus Emax has been proposed as a good index of the left ventricular inotropic state. However, the clinical use of this index remains to be furthfer studied…