A New Method for Direct Recording of Cardiac Output.

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Abstract
Pulmonary artery blood flow was phasically recorded with the aid of a bristle flowmeter which is suitably modified for use in the pulmonary artery. The "bristle" is deviated by the blood stream, resulting in changes of an attached RCA 5734 mechano-electronic transducer tube. Phasic recording of blood flow in the main pulmonary artery of anesthetized dogs revealed that ejection of blood from the right ventricle was followed by a brief period of backflow. Stroke volume was calculated by measuring the areas under the flow curves. Advantages of this method are (1) The flowmeter can be inserted at leisure into the pulmonary artery without blood loss and without interrupting flow, (2) The resistance to blood flow introduced by the flowmeter is negligible. (3) Accurate zero flow can be determined at any time without vessel occlusion or interference with circulation. (4) Changes in forward and backward flow can be faithfully recorded owing to the higher fidelity of the flowmeter. (5) Mean cardiac output can be recorded through electrical integration. (6) The sensitivity of the instrument is very high. (7) The insertion of the cannula induces a negligible amount of trauma.
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