Systolés

Systolés is a term encountered primarily in French-language medical literature and, less commonly, in bilingual texts. It denotes relations to the systole, the phase of the cardiac cycle during which the heart muscles contract and pump blood outward. More widely used equivalents in English and French are “systolic” and “systole” (or the adjective “systolique”). As such, systolés may appear as an adjective describing events, measurements, or features that occur during systole.

In physiology, systole follows atrial contraction and precedes diastole. During systole, the ventricles contract, the aortic and pulmonary valves open, and blood is ejected into the aorta and pulmonary artery. The left ventricle generates higher pressure, which is reflected clinically as systolic blood pressure. The duration of systole varies with heart rate; at rest it typically lasts about 0.2 to 0.3 seconds, comprising roughly a third of the cardiac cycle at normal rates.

In clinical practice, terms related to systole are common, such as systolic blood pressure, systolic murmur, and systolic function. These terms contrast with diastolic terms, which pertain to the relaxation phase of the heart. The use of “systolés” as a plural or adjectival form is relatively rare in contemporary English-language usage; the preferred forms are “systolic” or “systole” and their French equivalents “systolique” and “pression artérielle systolique,” for example.

See also: systole, diastole, systolic murmur, systolic blood pressure.