Detection of left ventricular regional myocardial ischaemia in dogs by intraventricular conductance catheter

Nine adult mongrel dogs were instrumented with ultrasonic microcrystals to measure left ventricular basal anteroposterior diameter and midwall myocardial segment length near the cardiac apex. Pneumatic cuff occluders were positioned around the left circumflex coronary artery near its origin and around the left anterior descending coronary artery two thirds of the way along its length. A pressure microtransducer was implanted into the left ventricle. Ten days after instrumentation the animals were anaesthetised with morphine chlorhydrate and pentobarbital sodium. An eight electrode catheter was advanced into the left ventricle to measure ventricular apical and basal regional and total electrical conductance. Minor ischaemia caused by occlusion of the left anterior descending artery was detected only by the electrode pair located near the apex, as decreased local ejection fraction. Major ischaemia caused by left circumflex artery occlusion was detected by both apical and basal electrode pairs and by total conductance, the three conductance signals indicating reduced ejection fractions compared with control values. The basal diameter signal indicated that basal regional motility changed only during major ischaemia, thus confirming the specificity of the changes in the basal conductance signals. The apical segment length signal confirmed the altered motility indicated by the apical conductance signal. These results suggest that regional wall motion abnormalities may be detected by the use of a multielectrode conductance catheter.