Korea University Anam Hospital announced on the 2nd that a research team led by Professor Kim Byeong-jo and Park Jin-woo from the Department of Neurology announced that Valsalva Sugi increases the efficiency and diagnosis rate of orthostatic hypotension tests.
The study was conducted in conjunction with the Center for Autonomic Nervous Disorders at Vanderbilt University in the United States.
The research team analyzed the relationship with orthostatic hypotension by comparing heart rate change and blood pressure recovery time when performing the Valsalva maneuver on 2,498 patients who underwent autonomic nerve tests between March 2016 and May last year.
The Valsalva maneuver is an autonomic nerve test that evaluates cardiovascular function. It is a test method that measures changes in heart rate and blood pressure by exhaling by exhaling with force on the stomach as if blowing up a balloon with the nose and mouth closed.
As a result of the study, when the Valsalva maneuver was performed for 15 seconds, the lower the heart rate change and the longer the time to restore to normal blood pressure, the more necessary the fixed tilt test for more than 30 minutes.
The standing tilt test is a test to screen patients with orthostatic hypotension, and the time required for the test varies depending on the time of onset of symptoms.
In most cases, within 10 minutes of diagnosis, blood pressure drops and symptoms such as headache and dizziness appear. However, in the case of patients with delayed orthostatic hypertension, symptoms may appear after 10 minutes, so the diagnosis may be missed or the test time extended.
Until now, there has been difficulty in choosing the optimal test time for each patient because there has been no objective guidance on how long a fixed tilt test is necessary for which patient.
Valsalva can reduce the patient’s test burden by predicting the time of onset of symptoms during the standing tilt test, and improves test efficiency by allowing medical staff to set the optimal test time for each patient.
Professor Kim Byeong-jo from the Department of Neurology at Korea University Anam Hospital said, “This is an important study that reduces unnecessary tests and helps diagnose and treat patients when performing a standing tilt test using various indicators of Valsalva maneuver.”
The content of the research was published in Hypertension of the American Heart Association (AHA), an internationally renowned academic journal, and they were selected as ‘People who shine in Korea’ by the Biological Research Information Center (BRIC).
