[From phonocardiography to phonoanalysis]. / Vom Phonokardiogramm zur Phonoanalyse.

We report on a new system for the examination and presentation of heart sounds, the phonoanalysis (PHA). It gives automatically a complete, objective physically founded picture of heart sounds and murmurs by registering the frequency spectrum graphically, as well as presenting in a numeric format, as a whole and as a function of time; in addition, the usual phonocardiographic and electrocardiographic leads may be obtained. A further function is to measure--probably for the first time--quantitatively the "roughness" of heart murmurs. This factor is also essential for the quality of murmurs and independent of the pitch. Therefore, the quantitative assessment of roughness has been proposed as an essential part of the physically founded description of heart murmurs in the auscultation, in addition to the determination of the dominating frequency (pitch). The term 'roughness' should not been confined to the extremely rough low-pitched heart murmurs e.g. in typical aortic stenosis. The PHA gives a better insight into the hemodynamic basis of heart murmurs and discloses properties of murmurs not recognized by auscultation and phonocardiography. The PHA can also be used for the examination of vascular, lung, bronchial and abdominal murmurs and also in connection with a stethoscope using an airborne sound microphone.

[Problems of therapy control in arthroses and suggestion of a method for the non-invasive identification of changes in joint morphology (knee joint) (author's transl)]. / Probleme der Therapiekontrolle bei Arthrosen und Vorschlag eines Verfahrens zur nicht-invasiven Erfassung von Vernderungen der Gelenkmorphologie (Kniegelenk).

The article explains the fundamental problems in therapeutic studies of the primary and secondary processes in arthrosis. Many drugs are on the market for treating the secondary phenomena; however, such phenomena can often be assessed only on the basis of "soft" action criteria (verbal information given by the patients). Biochemical examinations of the synovial fluid and methods to assess joint morphology, are particularly suitable for evaluating the primary changes taking place in the joint cartilage. An assessment of the "joint noises" is known in literature as a non-invasive method. An improved method of recording and evaluating these joint noises is suggested. It is characterized by the following features: - registration of signals with defined joint load - classification of the noise phenomena with reference to the joint position, i.e. to joint areas - by separation of the signal into movement cycles elimination of artificial noise producers - evaluation of those signal periods only which are disease-specific. The article shows examples by quoting signals with the respective frequencies for healthy and diseased persons, and explains the suitability of the method in therapy control by describing two examples of surgical treatment.