O'DONOVAN, T. PAUL B.

Cardiac and aortic pressures were recorded after stellate ganglionectomy and vagotomy. Acute heart block was produced by injecting the atrioventricular node, and atrial and ventricular systoles were controlled electronically to occur independently or in any desired relationship. Angiocardiograms recorded on video tape after injections of 4 ml 69% Renovist into the left ventricle were analyzed with a videodensitometer able to detect small refluxes of contrast medium into the left atrium and correlate them with phases of the cardiac cycle. When ventricular driving was temporarily suspended but atrial driving continued, pressure records indicated mitral valve closure after each atrial systole, but reflux of contrast medium into the atrium occurred after each systole not followed by a normally sequenced ventricular systole. Driving with a 2: 1 atrioventricular stimulation resulted in reflux, with the alternate atrial contraction dissociated from ventricular systole. Thus, the mitral valve was not effectively closed by atrial systoles that were not followed by normally sequenced ventricular systoles.

Flow-directed catheters recorded serial changes in mean pulmonary artery pressure (PA) every 4 to 6 hours in 25 patients during the first 4 or 5 days following acute myocardial infarction. On the basis of the PA on admission, patients were divided into three groups. Patients in group 1 had normal PA (10-20 mm Hg) and maintained a stroke volume index (SVI)>35 ml/min/m 2 , a pulmonary artery oxygen saturation (MVSO 2 )>70%, and a normal cardiac index, arterial oxygen saturation, p H, and P CO CO2 . They developed only minor arrhythmias, no heart failure, and none died. Group 3 consisted of one patient with abnormally low PA (<10 mm Hg) who was hypovolemic. Group 2, those patients with elevated PA (>20 mm Hg) who maintained this elevation over the first 48 hours of monitoring, or showed progressive elevation prior to this, had SVI<35 ml/min/m 2 , MVSO 2 <70%, cardiac index<3 liters/min/m 2 , arterial desaturation, and respiratory alkalosis. They demonstrated clinical evidence of heart failure, had major arrhythmias, and 25% died. Three patients with elevated PA on admission spontaneously returned this pressure to normal over the first 48 hours of monitoring. Each of these patients maintained normal hemodynamics and had a good prognosis. PA was always elevated prior to the usual clinical signs of left ventricular failure. We conclude that PA provides a reliable early objective measure of left ventricular failure and is, therefore, an excellent guide to therapy.

A case is reported of a man who had an acute painless dissecting hematoma of the aorta, which was diagnosed clinically in the absence of hypertension or known precipitating cause. The successful surgical treatment is described and illustrated. The following diagnostic features were stressed in the absence of pain: sudden onset of symptoms, syncope, acute peripheral arterial occlusion, appearance of aortic insufficiency, and finding of bruits over the course of the aorta. The significance of the symptom of pain in the torso and the possible modes of its production in this condition are considered, and it is suggested that pain in dissecting aneurysm may imply a poor prognosis.