Pressure Studies After Inactivation of the Major Portion of the Canine Right Ventricle

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Abstract
Ligation of the right coronary artery in dogs, which deprived 50-73% of the right ventricular myocardium of its coronary arterial blood supply, did not result in extensive changes in mean arterial blood pressures. No difference was noted between animals in which the right coronary artery alone was ligated and those in which previous septal infarction had been produced. Similar results were noted in animals in which the right coronary arterial system was injd. with vinyl acetate, thus inactivating 59-95% of the right ventricular myocardium. The greatest right auricular and central venous pressures recorded in these animals were ascribed to insufficiency of the tricuspid valve. The source of the pressure pulse developed within the right ventricle after severe right ventricular damage was not located with certainty but was thought to reside in the small region of right ventricular muscle that still functioned. When present as the sole abnormality of the circulatory system, the damaged right ventricle was able to maintain an adequate pulmonary flow. In the presence of acute severe mitral stenosis, inactivation of the myocardium of the right ventricle resulted in abrupt circulatory failure.