Autonomic changes in patients with heart failure and in post-myocardial infarction patients.
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Medical School, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. dvidoc@doctors.org.uk
A range of techniques for the assessment of autonomic tone are described. Impaired baroreflex control of heart period, measured in terms of heart rate variability or baroreflex sensitivity, is independently associated with adverse prognosis in patients with heart failure and following acute myocardial infarction. These techniques have not yet entered routine clinical practice.
PMID: 15486114 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMCID: PMC1768543