Ultrasonic cardiac echography for determining stroke volume and valvular regurgitation.

The ventricular dimensions of 51 patients with heart disease were determined by ultrasonic echography during cardiac catheterization. These data were used to calculate end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and stroke volume, using a prolate ellipse as a geometric model of the left ventricle. In 30 patients without valvular regurgitation the stroke volumes determined by the echographic method were compared with those determined simultaneously by the standard Fick method with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.966. In 21 patients with valvular regurgitation, the severity of regurgitation