04. the Cardiac Cycle/Wiggers Diagram
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Part I Anaesthesia Refresher Course – 2018 4 University of Cape Town The Cardiac Cycle The “Wiggers diagram” Prof. Justiaan Swanevelder Dept of Anaesthesia & Perioperative Medicine University of Cape Town Each cardiac cycle consists of a period of relaxation (diastole) followed by ventricular contraction (systole). During diastole the ventricles are relaxed to allow filling. In systole the right and left ventricles contract, ejecting blood into the pulmonary and systemic circulations respectively. Ventricles The left ventricle pumps blood into the systemic circulation via the aorta. The systemic vascular resistance (SVR) is 5–7 times greater than the pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). This makes it a high-pressure system (compared with the pulmonary vascular system), which requires a greater mechanical power output from the left ventricle (LV). The free wall of the LV and the interventricular septum form the bulk of the muscle mass in the heart. A normal LV can develop intraventricular pressures up to 300 mmHg. Coronary perfusion to the LV occurs mainly in diastole, when the myocardium is relaxed. The right ventricle receives blood from the venae cavae and coronary circulation, and pumps it via the pulmonary vasculature into the LV. Since PVR is a fraction of SVR, pulmonary arterial pressures are relatively low and the wall thickness of the right ventricle (RV) is much less than that of the LV. The RV thus resembles a passive conduit rather than a pump. Coronary perfusion to the RV occurs continuously during systole and diastole because of the low intraventricular and intramural pressures. In spite of the anatomical differences, the mechanical behaviour of the RV and LV is very similar. The cardiac cycle - The “Wiggers diagram” Prof. J Swanevelder The cardiac cycle can be examined in detail by considering the ECG trace, intracardiac pressure and volume curves, and heart valve function. Fig. 1 The “Wiggers Diagram” - Cardiac cycle, showing ventricular volume, ventricular pressure, aortic pressure and atrial pressure Systolic function Systole can be broken down into the following stages: • Isovolumetric ventricular contraction • Ventricular ejection Systole commences with a period of isovolumetric contraction initiated by the QRS complex of the ECG. During this brief period the volume of the ventricle does not change since both the AV and semilunar valves are closed. Isovolumetric contraction ends when the semilunar valve opens and ejection begins. The events during systole are described below and should be considered along with the ventricular pressure, aortic pressure and ventricular volume curves. Left ventricular pressure The QRS complex of the ECG initiates ventricular contraction. As the pressure in the left ventricle increases during isovolumetric contraction, it comes to exceed the pressure in the aorta. At this point the aortic valve opens and ejection begins. The aortic valve opens at about 80 mmHg. Ejection continues as long as ventricular pressure exceeds aortic pressure. The total volume ejected into the aorta is the stroke volume (SV). The ventricular pressure increases initially during ejection, but then starts to decrease as the ventricle relaxes. The gradient between ventricle and aorta starts to reverse at this point, since LV pressure has started to fall but aortic pressure is maintained by the momentum of the last of the ejected blood. When the ventricular to aortic pressure gradient has reversed, the aortic valve closes and isovolumetric relaxation begins. The dicrotic notch on the aortic pressure curve (below) marks this point. The LV pressure normally reaches a systolic maximum of 120 mmHg. At the end of systole the LV pressure is described as the end-systolic pressure and the LV volume is at its smallest (end-systolic volume), about 40–50 ml. Right ventricular pressure This follows a similar course to LV pressure. The tricuspid and pulmonary valves dictate events, with ejection occurring into the pulmonary artery. Right ventricular pressure reaches a maximum of about 20–24 mmHg during systole. Ventricular volume Diastole commences in the left side of the heart with closure of the aortic valve and relaxation of the left ventricle. Since the mitral and aortic valves are both closed at this time the relaxation is described as isovolumetric. The ventricle contains 40–50 ml blood at this stage (end-systolic volume). 4 - 2 The cardiac cycle - The “Wiggers diagram” Prof. J Swanevelder Isovolumetric relaxation ends with opening of the mitral valve, when a period of rapid filling of the ventricle begins, which lasts for the first third of diastole. After the initial period of rapid filling follows a period of passive filling called diastasis and flow continues passively into the ventricle, providing up to 75% (60 ml) of the filling volume. During the last third of diastole the P wave of the ECG initiates atrial contraction, which contributes the remaining 25% of filling to give an end-diastolic volume of about 120 ml. The end-diastolic volume of the ventricle is not always 120 ml, but can vary due to changes in venous return to the heart, contractility and heart rate. A similar sequence of events occurs on the right side of the heart, controlled by the pulmonary and tricuspid valves. Aortic pressure curve Ejection of blood into the aorta begins when the aortic valve opens. During ejection, the aortic pressure follows the ventricular pressure curve with a small pressure gradient of about 1–2 mmHg when the aortic valve is normal. As ejection proceeds aortic pressure increases to a maximum (systolic pressure) and starts to fall as the LV relaxes. When the ventricular pressure has fallen below the aortic pressure, the aortic valve closes and ejection ceases. Following closure of the aortic valve, elastic rebound of the aorta walls gives rise to a small hump in the aortic pressure curve forming the dicrotic notch. This notch marks the beginning of diastole. During diastole the aortic pressure gradually falls to a minimum (diastolic pressure), due to runoff of blood to the systemic circulation. Atrial pressure Normally blood fills the right atrium (RA) via the superior and inferior venae cavae, continuously throughout the cardiac cycle. This flow is returned from the peripheral circulation and is called the venous return to the heart. On the left side of the heart, the left atrium (LA) receives blood from the pulmonary vascular bed via the pulmonary veins. Passive filling of the atria produces RA pressures of 0–2 mmHg and LA pressures of 2–5 mmHg. During diastole atrial pressures follow ventricular pressures since the AV valves are open and the two chambers are joined. Three waves or peaks are produced in the atrial pressure curve during the cycle. At the end of diastole the atria prime the ventricles by contracting and developing pressures between 0 and 5 mmHg. Atrial contraction is shown on the atrial pressure curve as a smooth peak immediately preceding systole, the ‘a’ wave. As systole begins the AV valves close and a brief period of isovolumetric contraction occurs, producing a second low-pressure peak, the ‘c’ wave. This is due to the AV valve bulging back into the atrium. As blood is ejected during systole the atrium continues to fill with the AV valve closed and atrial pressure increases until early diastole when the AV valve opens. At this point rapid filling of the ventricles commences and a sudden fall in atrial pressure follows. This gives rise to the ‘v’ wave. Diastolic function Diastole can be broken down into the following stages: • Isovolumetric ventricular relaxation • Rapid ventricular filling • Slow ventricular filling (diastasis) • Atrial contraction Although diastole appears to be a passive part of the cardiac cycle, it has some important functions: • Myocardial relaxation – a metabolically active phase. One essential process is the reuptake of calcium by the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Incomplete reuptake leads to diastolic dysfunction due to decreased end-diastolic compliance. The negative slope of the ventricular pressure–time curve during isovolumetric relaxation (termed dP/dt(max)) indicates myocardial relaxation. Increased sympathetic tone or circulating catecholamine levels give rise to an increased dP/dt(max). This is known as positive lusitropy. • Ventricular filling – provides the volume for the cardiac pump. Most of the ventricular filling occurs during early diastole. There is only a small increase in ventricular volume during diastasis. As the heart rate increases diastasis is shortened first. When the heart rate exceeds about 140 bpm, rapid filling in early diastole becomes compromised and the volume of blood ejected during systole (stroke volume, SV) is significantly decreased. • Atrial contraction – contributes up to 25% of total ventricular filling in the normal heart. This atrial contribution can become of greater importance in the presence of myocardial ischaemia or ventricular hypertrophy. • Coronary artery perfusion – the greater part of left coronary blood flow occurs during diastole. 4 - 3 The cardiac cycle - The “Wiggers diagram” Prof. J Swanevelder Cardiac valves The cardiac valves open and close passively in response to the changes in pressure gradient across them. These valves control the sequence of flow between atria and ventricles, and from the ventricles to the pulmonary and systemic circulations. Valve timing in relation to the ventricular pressure curve is shown in Fig 2. The AV valves are the mitral and tricuspid valves. These prevent backflow from the ventricles into the atria during systole. The papillary muscles are attached to the AV valves by chordae tendineae. They contract together with the ventricular muscle during systole, but do not help to close the valves. They prevent excessive bulging of the valves into the atria and pull the base of the heart toward the ventricular apex to shorten the longitudinal axis of the ventricle, thus increasing systolic efficiency. The semilunar (SL) valves are the aortic and pulmonary valves. These prevent backflow from the aorta and pulmonary arteries into the ventricles during diastole.