RELATION OF CARDIAC OUTPUT TO CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE

Abstract

Few studies relating to cardiac output in the presence of congestive failure have been made by acceptable technical methods. Lauter,¹ employing the direct Fick method in 3 cases of cardiac decompensation, found markedly subnormal values for the cardiac output and especially for the output per beat. Employing a similar technic, McGuire, Hauenstein and Shore² studied 5 cases of organic heart disease. Of these cases, decompensation was severe in 1, mild in 2 and slight in 1. In the case of severe failure the cardiac output was normal, a finding we have rarely encountered in patients subsequently studied by the acetylene method. Harrison³ investigated the cardiac output with the three sample acetylene method in 19 cases of congestive failure. He concluded: Persons with congestive heart failure may, and often do, have diminished circulatory minute volume. There is no correlation between the clinical state on the one hand and