IN APRIL 1958, the author first succeeded in catheterizing the left atrium of a patient percutaneously by piercing the interatrial. septum from the groin with a long, curved, 17-gauge needle and advancing the ensheathing 7-French plastic catheter over the needle and into the left atrium.' Fine polyetlhylene tubing could then be threaded through the transseptal catheter without any danger of amn...

IN APRIL 1958, the author first succeeded in catheterizing the left atrium of a patient percutaneously by piercing the interatrial. septum from the groin with a long, curved, 17-gauge needle and advancing the ensheathing 7-French plastic catheter over the needle and into the left atrium.' Fine polyetlhylene tubing could then be threaded through the transseptal catheter without any danger of amn...

Interpretation of the meaning of a mean diastolic atrioventricular gradient or a mean systolic ventricular-great vessel gradient requires simultaneous determination of the level of the gradient, the heart rate, and the cardiac output. The feasibility of steady-state Fick principle cardiac output determination during combined right and left heart catheterization is investigated. LEFT heart cathe...

Improved medical and surgical therapies for children with congenital heart disease have resulted in a growing population of patients reaching adulthood.1,2 Over this same time, the field of interventional cardiology has experienced significant growth, driven by technological improvements and better understanding of the mechanisms and intermediateterm results of individual procedures. Consequent...

Case Report The patient, K.K., a 3-year-old boy, was admitted to the General Infirmary at Leeds in January 1962 for investigation of his congenital heart disease, with moderate dyspnea and eyanosis on effort. Physical examination showed normal development. There was no eyanosis at rest, and the fingers and toes were not clubbed. The peripheral pulses were normal. Inspection of the neck revealed...

CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION IN CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE. By Andre Cournand, Janet S. Baldwin, and Aaron Himmelstein. The Commonwealth Fund, New York, 1949. viii + 108 pp. $4. A few years ago congenital heart lesions were looked upon as rather hopeless oddities, but with the brilliant work of the cardiovascular surgeons this concept underwent dramatic revision. Then it became necessary to develop me...