Path. [mod.L., f. Gr. ἀ priv. + συστολή contraction: see SYSTOLE.] Cessation of the functional contraction of the heart. Asystolism [= F. asystolie (Beau)], see quot.
1870. Gee, Auscult., xxi. 237. Asystolism … that remarkable group of symptoms which is characteristic of an enduring inability in the right ventricle to empty itself.
1876. Balfour, Dis. Heart, iii. 87. Asystole, in which the aortic blood-pressure suddenly falls below that necessary for the maintenance of life, because the left ventricle ceases to act.
