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This is a system used in a cardiac catheter laboratory to visualize the passage of blood through the chambers of the heart and the great vessels. A bolus of X-ray opaque contrast medium is injected from a high-pressure pump through a catheter placed at the starting point for the investigations. It may be injected into the coronary artery to demonstrate the location and severity of plaque build-up. It may be injected just downstream of a heart valve to give an indication of the amount of regurgitation through the valve or it may be injected through a distant vessel. Planimetric measurement of the chambers of the heart as seen on the video screen may provide information on the size of the heart chambers and the ejection fraction. This procedure may be performed at the same time as pressure measurements in the chambers of the heart and great vessels to investigate the performance of valves or to demonstrate septal defects.
Apart from the high-pressure pump, the apparatus is an X-ray machine with a fluoroscopic screen, coupled to a video system. It may also have a cine, or rapid film changing capability and may allow visualization in two planes at once.
Content and Design Copyright 2000 Dr. Malcolm C Brown. See Title Page for more details