Figure 2. Left ventricular shortening fraction; (SF; top) and velocity of ventricular circumferential fiber shortening corrected for heart rate (VCFc; bottom) decreased with both anesthetic agents. Halothane decreased shortening fraction (two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures; P = 0.003) and VCFc (two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures; P = 0.018) more than sevoflurane.