Intravenous catheterization of the heart is highlighted as a useful diagnostic aid for evaluating suspected congenital heart disease by allowing for blood sampling and pressure measurements.
May aid congenital heart disease evaluation; leaves open its role versus modern noninvasive imaging.
RRECENT advances in the surgical alteration 1 and correction of certain congenital defects of the heart and the great vessels make it imperative that more exact diagnoses of such lesions be made. Intravenous catheterization of the heart has been found to be a most useful aid in ascertaining the condition when such congenital abnormalities are suspected. Forssmann, 2 in 1929, first introduced the method by catheterizing his own heart. In 1941, Cournand and Ranges 3 emphasized its applicability to the study of certain physiologic changes that occur in various types of heart disease. Blood samples may be obtained from various parts of the venous system, from the right side of the heart and from the pulmonary artery and its branches for estimation of the oxygen content. At the same sites, the blood pressure may be determined with a Hamilton manometer 4 or similar apparatus. Other investigators 5 have used this method to
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Don W. Chapman (1949) studied this question.
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