Volume 2 No. 3, July 2007

A New Echo-Cardiographic Approach in Assessing Pulmonary Vascular Bed in Patients with Congenital Heart Disease
Suzan  El-Hefnawy

Cardiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Egypt.
Tanta Med. Sc. J 2007; 2(3):61-67
Article type: Original article

Aim: We thought to test whether the ratio of peak tricuspid regurgitant velocity (TRV, m/sec), to the right ventricular out flow tract time-velocity integral (TVIRVOT, Cm/sec) obtained by Doppler echocardiogrophy (TRV/TVIRVOT) provides a clinically reliable method to determine pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Patients & Methods: Simultaneous Doppler echocadiographic examination and right-heart catheterization were performed in 25 patients. The ratio of TRV/TVIRVOT was then correlated with invasive PVR measurements using regression analysis. An equation was modeled to calculate PVR in wood units (WU), using echocardiography, and the results were compared with invasive PVR measurement using the Bland-Altman analysis. Results: As calculated by Doppler echocardiography, TRV/TVIRVOT results correlated well (r=0.92) with invasive. PVR measurements the Bland-Altman analysis between PVR obtained invasively and that by echo cardiography, using the equation: PVR=TRV/TVIRVOT x 10 + 0.16, showed satisfactory limits of agreement. Conclusion: Doppler echocardiography may provide a reliable, non invasive method to determine PVR.