EFFECT OF MUSCULAR EXERCISE UPON THE PERIPHERAL CIRCULATION IN PATIENTS WITH VALVULAR HEART DISEASE 1

Abstract

Using the venous occlusion plethysmographic method, the rate of resting peripheral blood flow and the circulatory response to exercise were studied in patients with insufficiency of the aortic semilunar valves and in patients with mitral valvular disease. The avg. circulation in the hand was somewhat reduced in both series of patients, while the readings in the forearm and leg in the majority of cases fell within the normal range. The post-exercise response of the blood vessels in the forearm to a specified amt. of work was generally greater in the patients with valvular disease than in the case of the control group. In the majority of patients with valvular heart disease, no evidence was found to indicate that excessive vasodilatation or vaso-constriction exists in the vessels of the forearm or leg. However, the compensatory circulatory mechanisms elicited by exercise either are not as effective as normal or the work is performed with less efficiency.