Pulmonary blood volume measured by RI angiocardiography

RI angiocardiography (RACG) was performed in 81 patients with heart disease without congestive heart failure at the time, and the results were compared between the groups with mitral valve disease and other diseases. Cardiac output (CO) and pulmonary mean transit time (PMTT) were compared with the results from the dye dilution method in the same patients. PMTT directly measured by RACG was also compared with the peak to peak time (P-PT). P-PT was expressed as the distance from the right to the left peak time in radiocardiography (RCG). There were good correlations between the CO and PMTT obtained from the RI method and those of the dye dilution method (r = 0.90, r = 0.84). The ralationship between PMTT and P-PT in mitral valve disease was different from that of other diseases. The average value of PMTT was 5.2 +- 1.0 seconds, and pulmonary blood volume (PBV) was 315 +- 57 ml/m2 in the control group. The PBV values were markedly increased in patients with mitral stenosis (558 +- 132 ml/m2) and mitral regurgitation (444 +- 119 ml/m2), and were slightly increased in aortic valve disease, congenital shunt disease and cardiomyopathy. The patients with ischemic heart disease had normal PBV. In mitral valve disease, the direct method using PMTT of RACG is more accurate than the presumption method using P-PT of RCG. The determination of PBV by this method is very important to observe hemodynamic states in mitral valve disease. (J.P.N.)