The 'mill-wheel' murmur and computed tomography of intracardiac air emboli.
The 'water-wheel' or 'mill-wheel' murmur is classically associated with large intracardiac air emboli and described as a "characteristic splashing auscultatory sound due to the presence of gas in the cardiac chambers." We used 64-slice computed tomography (slice thickness, 0.5 mm; revolution time, 400 msec) and 3D fly-through software imagery to capture previously unreported intracardiac air-blood interface dynamics associated with this murmur and ineffective right ventricular contraction in a porcine model.
Rubal
Bernard J
BJ
Cardiology Service, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USA. Bernie.Rubal@amedd.army.mil
Leon
Alisa
A
Meyers
Belinda L
BL
Bell
Christopher M
CM
D000818:Animals; D004618:Embolism, Air / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006337:Heart Murmurs / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D034421:Sus scrofa; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed