[Right heart ventriculography using Gelifundol]

Forty patients (14 women, 26 men, mean age 58 years) with suspected anomaly of the right heart and suspected tricuspid insufficiency or atrial septal defect were given four injections of Gelifundol in five-minute intervals via the right cubital vein. Before, during, and after each injection an echocardiogram was obtained (four-chamber-view). One subcostal view was recorded. Contrast echocardiograms were analyzed according to a subjective score scheme by two independent observers and by video-intensitometry. After injection of contrast medium no patient showed ECG changes, nor did any patient report side effects after the injection of Gelifundol. Concerning the subjective parameters there were no significant differences between both observers. Score points varied between 5.2 to 5.5, intensitometric maxima lay between 54.6 and 58.0 relative intensity units, and the half-time of the intensity maximum (T1/2) varied between 7.2 s and 8.1 s. There were no statistical differences between the two observers. In all patients a diagnotic improvement could be achieved. A tricuspid insufficiency which was not diagnosed in the native echocardiogram could be diagnosed in 13 patients with Gelfundol. Thus, Gelifundol seems well suited for the assessment of right ventricular lesions in man.