Pulmonary blood volume in mitral stenosis.

Various haemodynamic parameters in patients with mitral stenosis have been extensively studied but only a few measurements of the pulmonary blood volume are available (Milnor et al., 1960; Dock et al., 1961 ; McGaff et al., 1963 ; Schreiner et al., 1963; Yu et al., 1963). Furthermore, no worker has correlated the pulmonary symptoms of patients with mitral stenosis to their pulmonary blood volume. The pulmonary blood volume estimated in 33 patients with mitral valve disease and 15 normal healthy volunteers forms the basis of this report. This study was undertaken to delineate the range of pulmonary blood volume in normal persons and to correlate pulmonary symptoms to pulmonary blood volume and other haemodynamic parameters in patients with mitral valve disease.