Cardiac function was measured by radionuclide cardiac blood-pool imaging in 15 normal persons

19 cases of hypertension

32 cases of coronary heart disease

35 cases of coronary heart disease combined with hypertension and 44 cases of myocardial infarction. Significant differences have been found in indices of cardiac function between normal subjects and patients with coronary heart disease and coronary heart disease combined with hypertension

even though the patients were without any clinical sign of cardiac failure. Lowered regional EF and decreased ventricular wall motion were found in 38.8% of patients

while 65.7% of patients revealed marked abnormality in MFR. The results indicate that latent cardiac dysfunction is common in patients with coronary heart disease. The earliest change is diastolic function abnormalities.