Although the feasibility of angiographic estimation of right ventricular (RV) volume (V) has been demonstrated, no method has been validated by comparison with independent measurements of volume, and none has been applied to the systematic analysis of RVV characteristics in man. In the present study, postmortem casts of the human RV were used to determine a regression analysis for RVV for biplane frontal and lateral films by the Simpson's rule technique (true volume = 0.749 calculated volume, r = 0.99, SEE 3.7 ml, for casts ranging in volume from 20 to 115 ml). This method was then employed to estimate RVV from biplane cineangiograms of 32 patients. The validity of RVV measurements in vivo was corroborated by close correlation of stroke volumes estimated independently by angiographic and indicator dilution methods (r = 0.98, SEE4.1 ml).

No abstract

pREVIOUS STUDIES in our laboratories haveshown that patients with the systolic click syndrome exhibit a characteristic disorder of left ventricular contraction, with impaired shortening of the inflow tract and, in many instances, systolic expansion of the region of myocardium surrounding the mitral valve ring.1 The presence of a segmental myocardial abnormality appears to provide a plausible explanation for the occurrence of regional ECG abnormalities, as well as arrhythmias commonly observed in these patients in the absence of evidence of significant mitral valve dysfunction, and may also account for the late systolic timing of mitral incompetence in patients without obvious mitral leaflet abnormality. The possibility was considered that this segmental myocardial contraction disorder, in turn, might be related to an abnormality of the coronary circulation. Accordingly, the anatomy of the coronary circulation was examined by means of selective coronary arteriography