A cross‐species validation of single‐beat metrics of cardiac contractility

Abstract

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Instant contractility, just apply a single beat

“…Subsequent studies have then verified and tested other aspects of the index, contributing to the collective evidence of its general validity. However, in this issue of the Journal, Ahmadian et al (2022) present a large and comprehensive study of the performance of 12 single-beat contractility indices, aiming to test their general validity. The indices were examined in eight different experiments in rodents, porcines and canines to investigate whether they were correlated with the gold-standard indices from vena cava occlusions, whether they were preload independent and whether they showed the expected responses to pharmacologically or pathologically induced changes in contractile function.…”

“…The latter point illustrates a challenge with interpreting the gold-standard contractility indices, because they consist of both a slope and an intercept. The extensive testing of the 12 selected simple single-beat contractility indices in the paper by Ahmadian et al (2022) also serves as a convenient overview of these different indices, which might act to increase their use in more studies. Future studies will disclose more of the strengths and weaknesses of the single-beat indices.…”