Early changes in left ventricular function after aortic valve replacement for isolated aortic stenosis

To assess the immediate effects of aortic valve replacement (AVR) for valvular aortic stenosis (AS) on left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function and global hemodynamics, 17 patients with AS underwent transesophageal echocardiography combined with high-fidelity LV pressure recording and thermodilution cardiac output measurements before cardiopulmonary bypass and 0.5, 6, 12, and 20 hours after AVR. Compared with results before bypass, LV systolic function had already changed 30 minutes after AVR, and remained constant thereafter: peak LV systolic wall stress decreased (from 210 [+ or -] 60 to 130 [+ or -] 40 g-[cm.sup.-2]), peak rate of dimension shortening increased (from 7.3 [+ or -] 2.2 to 9.7 [+ or -] 2.1 cm-[s.sup.-1]), both p (Am J Cardiol 1994; 74:1142--1146)