[Doppler-echocardiographic assessment of the degree of pulmonary hypertension and right-ventricular pressure in patients with ventricular septal defects]

Abstract

The study was performed in 53 children aged 3 months to 4 years who had ventricular septal defect. Systolic pressure in the right ventricle, pulmonary artery and the severity of pulmonary hypertension were determined by two way: 1) from arteriovenous shunt via ventricular septal defect before its surgical closure; 2) from systolic regurgitation via the tricuspid valve after its seal. Right ventricular diastolic pressure was measured by Doppler echocardiography using diastolic blood flow through the tricuspid valve. Before ventricular septal defect closure, the correlation ratio of Doppler echocardiographic to cardiac catheterization values was 0.76 and that of Doppler echocardiographic to intrasurgical manometry was 0.79. In the postoperative period, a catheter was left in the right ventricle in 14 children and its pressure was simultaneously measured by the blind method. The correlation was 0.97 for right ventricular systolic pressure and 0.89 for diastolic one.