Characteristic Pressure Pulses Recorded with an Esophageal Balloon in Experimental Mitral Insufficiency in Dogs

Pulsations in the esophagus at the level of the left atrium and pressure pulses within the left atrium were simultaneously recorded in normal dogs and in the same animals following the production of mitral insufficiency. An identifiable and consistent pattern in the esophageal tracings was observed in the normal animals. Following the production of mitral insufficiency, characteristic alterations of the esophageal pulse wave contour were observed. These very closely paralleled the pressure tracings obtained simultaneously within the left atrium itself. It was also possible to detect a fall of the regurgitation pressure which resulted from hemorrhage or a rise which was produced by aortic compression. A ratio of approximately 3 to 1 was observed between simultaneously recorded atrial and esophageal pulse pressures in the dogs with mitral insufficiency. It is suggested that the contour of the pulse waves of the esophagus at the level of the left atrium, recorded with this technic, closely reflects that of the pressure pulses of the left atrium and that, within limits, a pressure relationship of a quantitative nature exists.