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.