Heart motion video-tracking (radarkymography) in diagnosis of congenital and acquired heart disease

Limitations of the cardiokymograph for assessing left ventricular wall motion

In order to evaluate the reliability and reproducibility of the CKG we studied four groups of patients. In 27 patients with a prior myocardial infarction the CKG recordings were compared to simultaneous wall motion videotracking. Identical wall motion was recorded in 75% of left ventricular sites and most of the discordant sites were false abnormal posterior wall motion recorded by the CKG. The second group consisted of 21 normal subjects studied by CKG only and 35% displayed anterior dyskinesis during expiration. The third group consisted of nine stable patients who were studied on two separate days by CKG and identical wall motion was recorded in only 55% of the sites on the two recordings. The final group consisted of seven patients with mitral regurgitation and all had late systolic outward movement posteriorly. Systolic wall motion was normal postoperatively in the three patients who underwent valve replacement. We conclude that: (1) the usefulness of the CKG is limited by the frequent recording of false wall motion abnormalities in normal subjects, (2) false anterior wall motion abnormalities can be reduced by recording during inspiration, (3) false posterior wall motion abnormalities may be due to systolic left atrial expansion, and (4) cardioxymography recordings are often not reproducible.

Characterization of left ventricular external wall motion in man by video dimension analyzer (Vidian)

Several investigators have described close relationships between left ventricular wall motion and physiologic cardiac events. Using an improved wall motion tracking devide (Vidian) in studies of 30 patients, we have compared the dynamics of left ventricular wall motion, recorded noninvasively, with high fidelity left ventricular and aortic pressures, intracardiac phonocardiograms, apexcardiograms, and cyclic left ventricular volume curves obtained during cardiac catheterization. Wall motion tracking signals comprised: pre-ejection outward deflection commencing with the first component of the first heart sound and coincident with the pre-ejection phase of the left ventricular pressure and apexcardiogram; a sharp descent during ejection, commencing with the "E" point of the apexcardiogram and with the onset of the upstroke of the aortic pressure; end ejection nadir, synchronous with the dicrotic notch of the aortic pressure; a nadir representing cessation of inward displacement, presumably reflecting slight inertial motion of the wall; a brief period of isovolumic relaxation which terminated synchronously with the "O" point of the apexcardiogram; rapid, then slow filling waves, coincident with those of the apexcardiogram, and demarcated by a transitional angulation synchronous with the third heart sound; and "a" wave, occurring simultaneously with that of the apexcardiogram. Ventricular wall motion tracking signals also corresponded to curves representing cyclic changes in left ventricular minor radius, and chamber volume derived from cineventriculograms. In 10 patients with abnormal contraction patterns detected by biplane cineventriculography, anomalous deflections were also recorded during ejection by the Vidian. Left ventricular wall motion tracking with the Vidian: 1) provides a sensitive index for timing of intracardiac events, 2) reflects cyclic changes in ventricular volumes and minor dimensions, 3) provides a convenient noninvasive technique for detection of regional asynergy involving the lateral left ventricular wall, and 4) by correlation with simultaneous ventricular pressure measurements, may provide useful information regarding left ventricular pressure/segment dimension relations.

Videometry studies of left ventricular wall movement after myocardial infarction

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Determination of the site, extent, and significance of regional ventricular dysfunction during acute myocardial infarction

Infarct site, extent, and the degree of associated asynergy are major determinants of the hemodynamic consequences of myocardial infarction. Although conventional electrocardiography and vectorcardiography are routinely employed in assessing the location and size of infarction, they are relatively nonspecific. The newer techniques of high-frequency electrocardiography and isopotential mapping offer promise but have yet to undergo systematic evaluation. A rough measure of the extent of infarction is obtained from serum enzyme measurements. However, they furnish no information with regard to localization.

The region of infarction may be detected by precordial scanning following the intravenous or intracoronary injection of a radioisotope. The infarct may be revealed as an area of decreased perfusion (cold spot) or as an area to which a specific radioactive label is bound (hot spot). With the availability of newer radionuclides such as 43 potassium and the use of computer techniques, a more precise means of localizing and quantifying myocardial infarction may become available.

Optimal definition of asynergy is obtained with contrast angiography. However, the risk of this procedure has limited its use, to date, in acute myocardial infarction. Apex- and kinetocardiography, chest X-ray, and fluoroscopy often suggest regional ventricular dysfunction, but these techniques are not sufficiently specific. Newer noninvasive methods for objectively evaluating regional ventricular dysfunction are ECG-gated cardiac scintiphotography and radarkymography. With ECG-gated scintiphotography, end-diastolic and end-systolic cardiac isotope images are obtained following intravenous injection of 99m technetium-albumin. From these images, assessment of asynergy and extent and location of infarct can be made. With radarkymography, heart-wall motion is assessed and quantitated by tracking segments of the cardiac silhouette visualized on a cinefluorogram. These techniques are ideally suited to the acutely ill patient. Echocardiography is another noninvasive technique with potential application to the study of asynergy. However, at present, only posterior-wall motion can be measured.

At the time of surgery regions of infarction may be localized by means of chemical indicators (fluoroscein), isotope techniques, or epicardial electrocardiographic mapping. Recently much has been learned about the hemodynamics of myocardial infarction. Through the use of the techniques described, further insight into regional ventricular abnormality and extent and localization of myocardial infarction could be obtained. With this information better approaches to therapy and prognosis could be developed.

Many students of the coronary circulation must have noted that the ventricular zone affected by ligating a large coronary branch not only appears cyanotic and dilated, but that it seems to alter in its mode of contraction. The detailed and sequential changes in contraction are not easily followed by the unaided eye and so far have not been recorded myographically. The reasons for this were the lack of an adequate and suitable myograph and a technique for the application of one to a limited ventricular surface so that records obtained represent, at least reasonably well, changes in muscle length and not predominantly artifacts due to position changes, thrusts and vibrations of the vigorously beating ventricle. 1

Left ventricular performance after acute myocardial infarction

Current knowledge concerning the major hemodynamic features of acute myocardial infarction has been reviewed and discussed in relation to present concepts of cardiac pathophysiology. The physical examination provides a great deal of information and new, noninvasive methods promise to supplement the bedside appraisal of left ventricular function. Direct hemodynamic methods of serially monitoring patients with acute myocardial infarction are finding increasing application and recently have added considerably to our understanding of this condition. Certain limitations in the use of the central venous pressure, pulmonary arterial pressure, and cardiac output in appraising left ventricular function have become apparent, but together with direct catheterization of the left ventricle such hemodynamic studies have now provided limited correlations between the clinical picture and various hemodynamic patterns. It is becoming increasingly clear that most of these features, including cardiogenic shock, probably reflect varying degrees of left ventricular failure. These initial findings and interpretations will require confirmation, however, and so far insufficient objective data are available concerning the natural history of acute myocardial infarction and its responses to various forms of therapy. The aims of investigations now being carried in specialized Myocardial Infarction Research Units and other cardiovascular research centers, are to gain such further understanding of the pathophysiology of this disease and to aid in its clinical management by developing accurate indirect monitoring techniques as well as new forms of therapy.