Abstract
Eight piglets were delivered at term by abdominal hysterotomy. They were prevented from breathing. The umbilical vein and artery and the jugular vein were cannulated. Arterial blood pressure and ECG were recorded and, when heart activity had ceased, cineangiography was performed with injection of contrast medium into the umbilical vein, or with injection through the jugular vein catheter, advanced to the superior vena cava. When contrast medium was injected into the umbilical vein it passed through the right atrium to the left atrium and left ventricle. When it was injected into the superior vena cava it was distributed to the right and left atrium and also to the right ventricle. External cardiac massage forced contrast medium into the arterial system. Evidently, contrast medium thereby reached the ascending aorta, the coronary arteries, and the brachiocephalic artery more readily following injection into the umbilical vein than into the superior vena cava. By the latter route, it would be distributed partly through the ductus arteriosus to the descending aorta. Infusion of oxygenated blood in a heart at standstill resulted in vigorous heart contractions.