DETERMINATION OF THE BLOOD FLOW BY A RADIOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUE

Abstract

A method for the quantitative data recovery from arteriograms has been developed and used for the determination of the blood flow rate in a single peripheral artery. A study of the various physical factors affecting the accuracy of this technique is presented. A close correlation was found between the results obtained by the radiographic technique and those obtained by the direct measurement in the flow model or by the electromagnetic flowmeter in the canine femoral artery experiments (r = 0.996, P < .001). The errors resulting from the technical aspects are smaller than the variations expected to be caused by the pathologic processes. A comparison of this method with the conventional dye dilution techniques is presented and the advantages of the radiographic sampling are discussed.