A combination of non-invasive and invasive procedures was used to assess hemodynamic response to negative pressure applied to the lower parts of the body (NPLB) in 56 patients with acute myocardial infarction and varying degrees of heart failure (HF) and 20 normal subjects. Normal subjects and HF-free patients showed a significant decrease in their stroke and cardiac indices and pulse pressure, and a rise in specific peripheral resistance, while the HF patients demonstrated higher cardiac productivity and lower specific peripheral resistance. Within 3 minutes after the discontinuation of NPLB, part of the depot blood returned to the central channel, creating a volumetric load on the heart. In this situation, the pump function of the heart was activated in normal subjects and HF-free patients, while patients with latent HF showed no such response, and those with obvious HF demonstrated impaired pump function.