Quantitative angiocardiography. I. The normal left ventricle in man.

IN THE PAST, clinical assessment of left ventricular function has been largely limited to the measurement of pressure and flow. Recently methods have been developed for the in vivo measurement of left ventricular volumes in man.1-3 Rackley and associates4 have described a method for determining left ventricular mass. The determination of left ventricular volume and mass are of definite help in evaluating the functional status of the left ventricular myocardium in patients with heart disease. In order to understand changes in disease, however, normal values for left ventricular volume and mass must be established. Currently, little data are available on the volume of the left ventricle in the normal adult, and no measurements of the normal left ventricular mass during life by this angiographic method are available. This paper reports the volume and mass of the left ventricle in a group of normal adults. Normal values for left ventricular volume reported in the literature measured by angiographic and indicatordilution techniques are presented and discussed.