A method for the study of regional ischemic dysfunction in the intact dog. Permanent endocardial markers and the...

A radiographic method for use in the closed-chest dog is described which allows the quantitation of segmental mechanical performance. Previous work has shown that the area of the pressure-length loop (an approximation of a stress-strain integral) is a useful measure of the mechanical work performed by a segment of myocardium. The position of radiopaque markers previously placed to define segments of myocardium is recorded by biplane cineradiography. From simultaneous measurements of left ventricular pressure the integral of pressure with respect to segment length during one cardiac cycle is calculated. An example illustrating the utility of this model for the study of regional myocardial ischemia is presented.