Continuous epicardial echocardiographic assessment of postoperative left ventricular function.
An ultrasound transducer which is sutured to the heart at operation and removal percutaneously has been developed and tested in 20 animals. The potential of this device to monitor cardiac function was measured by simultaneously recording 67 left ventricular angiograms and echograms over a wide range of hemodynamic function. In addition, the reproducibility of the data obtained from the transducer and the safety of application and withdrawal were examined. We found highly significant (p less than 0.005) linear correlation between echocardiographic and angiographic measurements of left ventricular end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, and ejection fraction. This transducer may provide the means to assess left ventricular size and ejection fraction continuously after cardiac operations in man.
D000818:Animals; D002302:Cardiac Output; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004285:Dogs; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006439:Hemodynamics; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011859:Radiography; D012756:Sheep; D014159:Transducers