Effect of ventriculoarterial coupling on residual left ventricular pump function in diabetic patients with myocardial infarction.

To study the ventriculoarterial coupling in diabetic patients with myocardial infarction (MI), 26 diabetic and 34 nondiabetic patients were investigated using radionuclide angiography in the 3rd week after acute MI. Effective arterial elastance was nearly one half of left ventricular end-systolic elastance in nondiabetic patients. On the other hand, effective arterial elastance was twice left ventricular end-systolic elastance in diabetic patients. These data suggest that a decrease in left ventricular contractility and an increase in effective arterial elastance lead to increased potential energy and decreased work efficiency in diabetic patients.