Abstract
Recently mesurement of Systolic Time Intervals (STI) has become one of the useful techniques for non-invasive evaluation of left ventricular function. The STI were mesured by the conventional triple instantanous recording of the electrocardiogram, phonocardiogram, and carotid arterial pulsation. Cardiovascular status was reflected in the change of STI both in health and disease. In case of acute myocardial infarction, two specific changes were observed, i. e. prolonged pre-ejection period (PEP) and shorter ejection time (ET). The STI was influenced by heart rate, load test, and by myocardial contractility. These parameters can limit the usefulness of STI, for the evaluation of cardiac function. For the appropriate use of STI, these limited usefulness of the parameters and many problems involved in the STI measurements should be always kept in mind before the data of mechanocardiography are evaluated.
