AVTHOIt's ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPKR ISSUED BY 

 THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, DECEMBER 29 



DETERMINATION OF THE SIZE OF THE HEART BY 

 MEANS OF THE X-RAYS 



C. R. BARDEEN 



University of Wisconsin 



ONE FIGURE 



CONTENTS 



1. The heart silhouette 423 



2. Position of the bodj^ in radiography of the heart 426 



3. Measurement of the heart silhouette 429 



4. Tables A and B 431 



a. Heart silhouette area and body weight 431 



b. Silhouette area and transverse diameter .• 445 



c. Heart weight and body weight 449 



d. Heart volume 465 



e. Ventricular output 476 



f. Relation of size of heart to height, weight and sex 481 



The x-rays are of value in the study of the relations, the shape, 

 the action and the size of the heart. We shall treat here of 

 methods of determining the size of the heart and the relation of 

 the size of the heart to the size of the bod3\ 



Of all the organs the heart is probably normally the most 

 closely related in size to the size of the body as a whole. It is 

 well known that a noticeably enlarged heart usually means some 

 lesion either of the heart itself or of the blood vessels. Under- 

 sized hearts have been less studied but the more accurate methods 

 of studying now being developed in x-ray technique show that 

 it is of clinical importance to know when a heart is disproportion- 

 ately small as well as when it is disproportionately large. 



1. THE HEART SILHOUETTE 



Of the various methods which have been devised for the study 

 of the size of the heart those which have proved of greatest value 

 are the orthodiagraphic and the teleroentgenographic. Ortho- 



423 



