Functional mechanisms of the adaptation of the cardiovascular system in premature children
Dashichev, V.V.; Chuprunova, M.B.; Khodunina, L.A.; Kutuzova, I.V.; Vlasova, T.D.
Pediatriia 10: 28-30
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0031-403X PMID: 2602062 Document Number: 346186
Uni-dimensional echocardiography was used to determine cardiac output in 84 conventionally normal premature infants aged 7-30 days. The children aged 7-15 days demonstrated a direct relationship between the stroke and minute volumes of the heart and body weight. However, such a relationship was not discovered in infants aged 16-30 days. It has been established that with age there was an increase both in the absolute and relative magnitudes of the stroke and minute volumes of the heart (calculated per unit of the weight and surface of the body). The time-course of changes in the cardiac output in premature infants during the first month of life is one of the mechanisms of cardiovascular system adaptation, aimed at the creation of more favourable conditions for body supply with oxygen.