THE CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SYSTOLIC RETRACTION OF THE APICAL IMPULSE

Abstract

The clinical significance of systolic retraction of the apical impulse is still a controversial matter today. No general agreement exists as to whether systolic retraction may occur in health, some workers finding it to be the normal pattern in late systole (Eddlemann et al., 1953), others that out- ward displacement persists throughout systole In constrictive pericarditis and adherent pericardium, on the other hand, systolic retraction of the impulse has long been an accepted physical sign (Broadbent,