Interaction between respiration and right versus left ventricular volumes at rest and during exercise: A real-time cardiac magnetic resonance study

Abstract

Breathing-induced changes in intrathoracic pressures influence left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) volumes, the exact nature and extent of which have not previously been evaluated in humans. We sought to examine this "respiratory pump" using novel real-time cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. Eight healthy subjects underwent serial multislice real-time CMR during normal breathing, breath holding, and the Valsalva maneuver. Subsequently, a separate cohort of nine subjects underwent real-time CMR at rest and during incremental exercise. LV and RV end-diastolic volume (EDV) and end-systolic volume (ESV) and diastolic and systolic eccentricity indexes were determined at peak i..