Circulatory changes associated with systemic hypotension in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Abstract

Myocardial infarction often leads to a fall in arterial blood pressure. This may occur briefly during the acute stage of the illness, persist for several days, or in some patients, the pressure may fail to return to previous levels. The mechanism by which the blood pressure falls is not always clear, and in order to study the circulatory changes associated with the hypotension, serial hamo- dynamic investigations have been made during the acute illness and subsequent recovery in patients with myocardial infarction.