Preserved Cardiac Function After Chronic Spinal Cord Injury
Abstract
de Groot PC, van Dijk A, Dijk E, Hopman MT. Preserved cardiac function after chronic spinal cord injury.
Objective
To assess the effect of chronic deconditioning on cardiac dimensions and function in subjects with high-level spinal cord injury (SCI), who represent a human in-vivo model of extreme inactivity.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
University medical center.
Participants
Seven men with tetraplegia and 7 able-bodied controls.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Echocardiographic measurements of resting cardiac dimensions, systolic function, and global and long-axis diastolic function.
Results
Left ventricular mass index was significantly lower in the subjects with SCI than in the controls (90.8±26g/m2 vs 122±28.9g/m2; P=.05). In addition, dimensions of left ventricle, left atrium, and vena cava inferior were all significantly reduced in the subjects with SCI compared with controls (P<.05). There were no differences between the groups for any of the parameters reflecting systolic and global and long-axis diastolic function.
Conclusions
Tetraplegia is associated with a reduction in cardiac mass and dimensions. Resting diastolic and systolic function is not altered with continued exposure to inactivity, however, which suggests a remodeling of the heart as a physiologic adaptive process.
aDepartment of Physiology, Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, The Netherlands
bDepartment of Cardiology, Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Correspondence to Maria T. Hopman, MD, PhD, Dept of Physiology, Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Supported by the Dutch Organization for Health Research and Development.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the author(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.
ABSTRACT