Radiocardiographic Evaluation of Induction to Neurolept-Anaesthesia in Patients with Mitral stenosis

Abstract

Noninvasive diagnostic techniques have been increasingly used in recent years in the evaluation of the haemodynamic status of patients coming to operation. This is due to their ease of application and the greater safety to the patients. Radiocardiography described in 1948 by Prinzmetal⁽¹⁾ is one such technique. Radiocardiography showed a high degree of correlation (r = 0.89) with invasive methods of haemodynamic evaluation⁽²⁾. Normal values of radiocardiographic parameters in healthy persons have been defined in the Nuclear Medicine Laboratory of the Institute of Cardiology in Poznan. As an isotope marker, ¹¹³In^m has been used. It is an emitter of mono-energetic gamma radiation with a special affinity for serum transferrin⁽³⁾. Because of its short half-life (T 1/2 = 99.5 minutes) and emission of homogenous energy, 113Inm allows one to repeat radiocardiography after three hours. A normal radiocardiographic curve is shown in Fig. 1. The technique has been used in assessing the suitability for operation of patients with mitral stenosis⁽⁴⁾. The long term results of commisurotomy have also been evaluated by radiocardiography⁽⁵⁾. We here report the effects of induction of neuroleptanaesthesia on radiocardiographically determined haemodynamic parameters in patients with mitral stenosis.