Reassessing Diagrams of Cardiac Mechanics: From Otto Frank and Ernest Starling to Hiroyuki Suga

Abstract

This article explores the importance of diagrams in the history of the understanding of cardiac function, by comparing Ernest Starling's famous "Law of the Heart" (1918) with the mathematically based view of cardiac mechanics put forward by Otto Frank (1897). Whereas Frank's diagrams gained influence in German cardio-physiological publications, they were widely unknown abroad until 1969, when Hiroyuki Suga began to present similar approaches for warm-blooded animals as Frank had done for the frog. Suga succeeded in correlating the pressure volume area (PVA)-a composite of Frank's work loop plus the area of remaining potential energy-with the oxygen consumption of the beating heart. With the concept of time-varying elastance as an index of cardiac contractility, Suga's approach became attractive for clinical applications, and Daniel Burkhoff and colleagues were able to use these insights for real-time, interactive simulations of the cardiovascular system. Such tools can be used for exploring basic hemodynamic principles and, thanks to technical developments of miniature pumps within the same time frame (Καιρός, the "right moment," or "the opportune"), to test the effects of device-based treatment for heart failure. These outcomes confirm that old analyses of the heart's activity may still be useful today.

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