While performing oxygen tension determinations directly on the exposed dog's myocardium, which had been previously infarcted by experimental ligation of a small branch of the left anterior descending coronary artery, we observed a drop in the oxygen tension readings following a slow intravenous injection of 15 to 20 cc. of a fat emulsion preparation. Coinciding with this drop in the oxygen tension readings, an apparent decrease in the amplitude of myocardial contraction was noted.1 These observations suggested to us that in humans the chylomicrons of postprandial lipemia might exert a similar adverse effect on the myocardium and that this effect is probably small and might most easily be demonstrable in patients whose myocardial blood supply is already compromised by severe coronary atherosclerosis and/or aortic valvular disease.
The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether postprandial lipemia would actually precipitate the syndrome of angina pectoris and produce abnormal electrocardiographic