Determination of left ventricular dimensions with ultrasound.

A new ultrasonic measuring system (UM 3) is described. In addition, the construction of simple piezoelectric transducers is outlined. These can be implanted either in the epicardium or in the endocardium of the left ventricle in anesthetized or conscious dogs. The total system has a high accuracy and linearity, and zero drift is small. An automatically controlled floating window excludes most artifacts due to unwanted echoes. Together with a modified delay-time measuring circuit, better recordings of dimensions are obtained. Sources of error due to the technique of implantation or due to electrical disturbances are described. A modified technique of implantation of endocardial transducers is presented.