A miniature tank for supply of carbon dioxide for carboangiocardiography.

Abstract

SINCE THE INTRODUCTION of the method of intravenous injection of carbon dioxide into the right side of the heart, by Oppenheimer et al, 1 for visualization of the pericardium and right atrial wall, there has been an ever-increasing interest in this technique for the differential diagnosis of myocardial dilatation or enlargement and pericardial effusion and thickening. The procedure, carboangiocardiography, is safe and useful in clinical cardiology. 2,3 Unfortunately, CO 2 is supplied to hospitals and laboratories in large, heavy, and crude metal tanks which must be equipped with pressure gauges and reduction valves. This makes an otherwise simple procedure a cumbersome one which tends to discourage its general use. After obtaining more than 200 carboangiocardiograms at this institution in the differential diagnosis of pericardial disease, it became evident that a simple, inexpensive, and lightweight apparatus would facilitate the procedure and encourage its general use in radiology departments and medical services