Radiological evaluation of the cardiac apex in Jamaican children

ABSTRACT

The position of the clinical apex beat projected on chest radiographs was compared to different points on the cardiac outline which have been regarded as the radiological apex. Good correlation was found between the clinical apex and the most lateral point of the left cardiac border, but not with the cardiophrenic angle of the lower end of the long diameter of the heart. The mid-clavicular line cannot be used to define the upper limit of the normal sized heart on radiographs as in clinical practice, because in many of the subjects the heart extended outside the mid-clavicular line (AU)