The Effect of Angiocardiographic Contrast Medium on Circulatory Dynamics in Man. Cardiac Output during Angiocardiography.

DIAGNOSTIC angiocardiography necessitates the injection of large amounts of contrast medium into the circulation. In response to such injections a transient fall in systemic arterial blood pressure and an increase in heart rate of approximately 2 minutes' duration have been reported in human beings" 2 and in animals.3 Also, a transient cutaneous erythema is well recognized subsequent to the injection of contrast medium. At the time of this study there are no reports concerning the effects of injections of contrast agents on the serial changes in cardiac output in intact man. This paper is concerned with the determination of cardiac output and other hemodynamic variables in 28 patients who underwent diagnostic angiocardiography. We found that contrast medium has a considerable effect on the circulation and, in particular, that it produces an appreciable sustained elevation of the cardiac output and a large increase in muscle blood flow.