The Limitations of Kymography
Ff. Roberts · British Journal of Radiology · 1939
Mainly owing to the researches of Stumpf1 and his associates, kymography has developed along three lines; first, the simple recording of the movement, or absence of movement, of borders of organs, more particularly those of the heart and other mediastinal structures; secondly, the minute analysis of these movements by means of the photo-electric cell, a process termed densography; and thirdly, the reconstruction of the movements in cinematographic form, a process known as kymosopy. Based as it is on a classical physiological method, kymography would seem on the face of it to be an ideal method of recording visceral movement. In certain cases, for instance, in the differentiation of hilar shadows, in the determination of local infarction of the heart, and in pericarditis, its value has been proved. Possibly its chief value lies in the fact that it gives the best means so far known of estimating the size of the heart in systole and diastole. Kymography, however, contains certain inherent fallacies which seem to have been overlooked by its enthusiastic advocates, but which must be emphasised if the limitations of the method are to be properly understood. These fallacies it is the purpose of this paper to describe. First, the complexity of the cardiac movements, and more especially the fact that the auricles are to a great extent passengers in movements determined by the ventricles, make it active and passive movements.