[X-ray diagnosis of cardiac insufficiency in acute myocardial infarct]

Practical medicine needs a simple method for detecting the presence and severity of left ventricular insufficiency in acute myocardial infarction. Radiography of the lungs may help in solving this problem. Our idea of the X-ray picture of the lungs in pulmonary circulation congestion is now almost complete. The X-ray picture is determined by the degree of left ventricular insufficiency. The results of lung radiography of 225 patients admitted to the intensive care department for acute myocardial infarction are discussed. Alveolar pulmonary edema was diagnosed in 22.7%, interstitial pulmonary edema in 42.7%, pulmonary plethora in 27%, and mild abnormalities in 7.6% of cases. Comparison of the findings of clinical and X-ray examination in 111 patients showed that severe disorders of pulmonary circulation are detected by the X-ray method four times more frequently.