ABSTRACT
Clumsiness of the circulation or, more specifically, a lack of precise and proper responses in the autonomic nervous system controlling the heart and blood vessels may well be the primary defect in the confusing syndrome of cardiovascular autonomic imbalance. The syndromes of cardiovascular autonomic imbalance may prove to be experimental models provided by nature which will enable clinical cardiovascular investigators to provide us with a better understanding of the precise control and regulation of the heart and blood vessels by the autonomic nervous system. Several investigators have published convincing data that patients with the mitral valve prolapse syndrome have cardiovascular autonomic imbalance. There is still controversy concerning the relationship between mitral valve prolapse and the symptom-complex of cardiovascular autonomic imbalance. However, there are reports in the literature of patients with the symptom-complex of the cardiovascular dysautonomias who do not have evidence of mitral valve prolapse or of a hyperkinetic circulation.
