Angiocardiographic volume determination of the reindeer left ventricle.

A simplified single-plane angiocardiographic method for the measurement of the left ventricular volumes in the reindeer heart has been developed, on the assumption that the left ventricle forms half a revolution ellipsoid. On the basis of a study of 30 ventricular casts the following formulae were constructed for the calculation of the left ventricular volume (VLV) in end-diastole (D) and end-systole (S): VLVD = 0.60 k3a2l - 3.9 and VVLS = 0.40 k3a2l - 12 where k = magnification factor of the x-ray system, a = cross-sectional diameter of the ventricle and 1 = longitudinal diameter of the ventricle. The method was tested on the casts by comparison with biplane integration and with the single-plane ellipsoid method. In addition to this, a comparison was made in vivo by simultaneous stroke volume determination by angiocardiography and the oxygen Fick, and a good agreement was observed.