An Investigation of the Size of the Heart in Soldiers by the Teleroentgen Method

It is not known with sufficient accuracy whether exertion, such as soldiers undergo in warfare, is accompanied by enlargement of the heart.The present study was undertaken to obtain information on this point.The examinations were made during May, 1919, of soldiers who had seen active service in the American Expeditionary Forces.1 The men were selected without regard to special criteria by line officers at one of the camps in the vicinity of New York.2Infantrymen were chosen or men who had been subjected to an equivalent amount of privation and exertion.In this report are given the results of the study of the size of the heart only.Physical examinations were made and electrocardiograms were taken, but the results of these further studies are reserved for later communications.The examinations now reported were roentgenographic.3The exposures were made with sternum turned to, and parallel with, the plate.The distance from the anticathode of the roentgen-ray tube to the photographic plate was 6 feet.A strip of lead about 10.0 cm.long, 6.0 mm.wide, and about 3.0 mm.thick was laid on the skin over the spines of the vertebrae and secured with adhesive plaster.Two acute angles of lead were similarly secured one in the suprasternal notch and the other in the infrasternal notch.The target of the roentgen-ray tube was adjusted to the level of the lower angle.Whether correct anteroposterior alignment was obtained, could then be ascertained by examining the plate.4The exposures were made in From