Precordial recording of albumin-I¹³¹ in estimation of cardiac output in the rabbit

¹ Radioisotope Unit and Surgical Department, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany

Precordial isotope dilution curves in the rabbit were employed to calculate cardiac output. I¹³¹-labeled human serum albumin was used as an indicator. Satisfactory correlation was found between cardiac output determined by this method and simultaneous evaluation of arterial dilution curves. In normal rabbits lightly anesthetized with ether, the cardiac output as measured by precordial recording was 141.4 ± 31.5 ml/kg in rabbits weighing between 2.1 and 3.75 kg, which corresponds well with data obtained by the Fick and dye-dilution methods obtained by previous workers.