Atherosclerosis, 42 ( 1982) 59-65 Elsevier/North-Holland Scientific Publishers, Ltd 59 Changes of Systolic Time Intervals in Asymptomatic Patients with Primary Hyperlipoproteinemia L. De Caprio ‘, A. Postiglione 2, A. Carlomagno ‘, P. Rubba 2, L. Spinelli ‘, P. Strazzullo 2 and M. Roman0 ’ ’ Jstitufo di Putologiu Speciule Medicu e Metodologia Clinicu and .’ Jstituto di Semeioticu Medica, II Fucolrir di Medtcina e Chirurgiu, Universitir degli Studi di Nupoh. Naples (It&) (Received 24 July, 198 I ) (Accepted 27 August, 1981) Summary Previous studies have focused on the usefulness of systolic time intervals to assess changes of myocardial function. In a recent report, hyperlipoproteinemia (HLP) was shown to induce early signs of vascular disease in asymptomatic subjects. By means systolic time intervals (STI) we studied left ventricular function in normal subjects and asymptomatic patients with HLP, who showed normal response to exercise on a bicycle ergometer. The results showed mean values of ST1 for the population in the normal range, according to standards accepted in North American reports. Different values of ST1 were found when we compared the data of controls with the ST1 of HLP patients with higher values of PEP1 and PEP/LVET and lower values of LVETI in HLP patients. These results suggest that hyperlipoproteinemia affects ST1 in asymptomatic patients, probably as a sign of early impairment of left myocardial function. Key words: Left ventricular function - Lipoproteins - Non-invasive methods Introduction Hyperlipoproteinemia (HLP) is a well recognized risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease [ 1,2]. Atherosclerosis is a pathological entity which requires several years to become clinically evident. Recent reports [3,4] have shown that early signs of atherosclerosis can be detected in asymptomatic patients with primary HLP. Because systolic time intervals (STI) have proved in recent years to be useful 002 1-9 150/ 82/ 0000-0000/ $02.75 0 I982 Elsevier/North-Holland Scientific Publishers. Ltd.