Effect of organic nitrates on intraventricular pressure gradients in heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction

Introduction. Patients with Heart Failure (HF) and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) show high mortality, yet not all its causes are fully understood. The aim of this study was to assess the hemodynamic response in HFpEF patients to an acute dose of sublingual nitro-glycerine (SL-NTG) during chronic vasodilator therapy. Methods. Colour M-mode Doppler (CMM) is a non-invasive ultrasound technique used to obtain left ventricular (LV) blood flow velocities during early filling and to calculate intra ventricular pressure gradients (IVPG). CMM recordings of 20 patients (HFpEF) during pre and post SL-NTG were obtained and processed with a specific algorithm to extract an IVPG map and related parameters. Average values from the available files were calculated and a Wilconox test was performed to compare the values during pre and post therapy, assuming a difference of p<0.05 as significant and of p