Ultrasono-tomograms of the heart and great vessels in living human subjects were obtained by the application of a concave transducer in the ultrasonic reflection technique with the introduction of Compound or PPISector scanning in the proximity immersed method, all of which were controlled in synchronization with EGG current.
From the tomogram thus obtained, the anatomical situation of the heart and great vessels, the intracardiac structures, the size of the cardiac chambers and the thickness of the cardiac and vascular walls were able to be measured in an instantaneous static state. Then the functional changes of the various cardiac structures were indicated in dynamic state by combination with the Time-Position-Indication method. The displacement and velocity of the cardiac structures during pulsation were able to be measured also.
In addition, since these methods are non-operative, they are free from major discomfort for the patient and can be repeated frequently for control purposes. Therefore, this method is considered very useful for clinical diagnostic purposes in cardiovascular diseases.
At the present stage, the tomograms of the heart and great vessels being obtained experimentally, there are still many engineering problems which are now under investigation to be solved for the improvement of tomograms.

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The conduction velocity of sound during the transmission over the chest wall was investigated. In the present experiments, a vibrator, which was connected to an audiooscillator producing a sinusoidal signal of a single frequency, was applied to a place on the chest wall as an external source of sound. The conduction velocity was calculated from the time delays in arrival of the vibration at several places on the line drawn from the site of the external source.
The conduction velocities of the vibration on the chest surface were from 5.9 to 12.3M. per sec. for 50cps, 11.5 to 15.7 for 100cps, 16.7 to 40.9 for 200cps and 18.2 to 39.0 for 400cps, respectively. The velocities were found to increase proportionally with the square root of the frequency.
From these data, it was clarified that a part of the energy of the vibration spread in the chest wall in the form of transverse shear wave or surface wave, but not in the form of longitudinal compressional wave (sound wave). Accordingly, it was suggested that the vibrations arising from the cardiovascular system might be transmitted in the surrounding structures of their sources in the form of transverse shear wave or surface wave.

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(1) In renal failure the clearance of digoxin was markedly impaired. The blood level in this group remained high for a long time, urinary excretion was much decreased and fecal excretion was increased. This observation shows that the kidney is the major organ for excretion of digoxin in normal subjects.
(2) Blood dialysis and peritoneal lavage had little effect on removal of digoxin from blood.
(3) In diabetes mellitus where moderate disturbance of digoxin clearance is observed the diabetic state or the usage of anti-diabetic drugs had no influence on clearance of digoxin. The degree of impaired renal function was clearly recognized as a factor of the clearance of digoxin.

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Vasculotoxic effect of purified collagenase was investigated in the normal and DCA hypertensive rats.
(1) Body weight increased with fluid retention in collagenase treated and DCA-collagenase-treated rats.
(2) Blood pressure elevated in the rats given DCA and 1% saline for drink and it decreased slightly after 2 weeks of collagenase treatment.
(3) Proteinuria developed in the collagenase-treated and DCA-collagenase-treated rats with decrease in total plasma protein in the latter. No elevation of blood urea nitrogen was recognized.
(4) Mild degenerative lesions in the small arteries and arterioles were observed in the collagenase-treated rats. Necrotizing renal and vascular lesions, arteriolar fibrinoid necrosis, glomerular degeneration and perivascular proliferation of collagen fibers were observed in the DCA-collagenase-treated rats which were identical in nature with lesions caused by DCA treatment only but more extensive and severe.
(5) These observations suggest that collagenase increases vascular permeability and serves as augmenting or accelerating factor in the development of hypertensive vascular disease.

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(1) Vectorcardiograms of ventricular premature beats were taken from100 cases of normal and of various cardiac patients by the Frank lead system. In order to include also ventricular premature beats occurring only occasionally, they were first recorded by a tape recorder.
(2) Vectorcardiograms of ventricular premature beats were classified into 3 main types according to the loop configuration and its direction. Type A resembled more or less left bundle branch block. Type B resembled also left bundle branch block in configuration of the vector loop, but its direction was different, the QRS loop being oriented to the right posteriorly. Type C resembled right ventricular hypertrophy with a conduction delay. Types A and C were divided into a few subgroups.
(3) The T vector loop was usually oriented opposite to the maximum QRS vector in Types A and B and the terminal QRS portion in Type C. In the shape and the direction of inscription of the T loop, no specific tendency was found, except for a tendency that the secondary T vector loop was observed in occasional ventricular premature beats in normal cases to be inscribed most often in the same direction of the QRS loop.
(4) Type A1 was more often found in cases of good conditions and Types B and C were found in cases of relatively poor conditions. Type A2 fell between.
(5) Among the cases 35 cases had ventricular premature beats occurring only occasionally. No difference could be found from those occurring frequently in their vectorcardiographic configuration and clinical significances.

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(1) The main purpose of this report is to introduce the principle of the newly-devised construction method for the "ideal lead" vectorcardiographic and electrocardiographic QRS patterns by means of the photographicoplanimetric technique.
(2) "Ideally" registered scalar and Lissajou's patterns of QRS complex by the application of the present technique were compared with the patterns clinically registered from the human subject through the various vectorcardiographic lead systems, for the purpose in estimating the validity and the superiority of the lead system in the sense of capability to register the undistorted pattern of the electromotive forces of the heart without any appearance of undue electrical distortion of the manifest vector.
(3) Alternation in the sequence of ventricular depolarization at the proper region of myocardium could produce the characteristic QRS wave or QRS loop compatible to the right bundle branch block, the left bundle branch block or myocardial infarctions.
(4) The QRS waves of 3 standard bipolar limb leads (I, II and III) and the precordial QRS waves (V₁-V₆) were constructed by multiplying the heart vector components (X, Y and Z data derived from the measurement by the photographico-planimetric technique) with the lead vector coefficients for bipolar leads and the precordial leads, and these waves thus obtained were very similar in configuration with those of actual conventional lead electrocardiograms clinically recorded.
(5) This approach introduced in the present paper seems to give good clue for the understanding of the quantitative change of the routine ECG and VCG.

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The incidence of abnormal Q and QS patterns classified by the Minnesota code in 74 cases of the aged, which were proved at autopsy to have myocardial infarcts, were reviewed with special reference to their size, location and the pathological type according to Wartman's classification. Incidence of the abnormal Q and QS patterns met in each criteria among the infarcted cases was as follows; I-1: 42%, I-2: 16%, I-3: 5%, and I-0: 36%. Among 27 cases of I-0, 13 were showed monophasic elevation of the ST segments or coronary T waves. Although a precise correlation between the size of each type of lesions and the grade of the Q and QS patterns was not confirmed, the small sized transmural lesions involving lateral or posterior wall and islands type of lesions failed to show the abnormal Q and QS patterns. It would seem difficult to make a correct diagnosis of myocardial infarction in about one third of the infarcted cases of the aged group, if diagnosis is based on only the abnormal Q and QS patterns.

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A case of anomalous inferior vena cava with azygos continuation associated with mirror image dextrocardia, situs inversus and acquired mitral valvular disease is reported. The anomaly of the inferior vena cava was incidentally discovered during cardiac catheterization. No other congenital anomaly of the cardiovascular system was demonstrated.

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A case of the combination of pheochromocytoma and thyroid carcinom was presented. This was the first case in Japan. Both tumors were successfully removed and the patient has remained well without any evidence of recurrence.

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