[Diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension by means of continuous, pulsed and color Doppler, and its correlation with hemodynamics]

Abstract

We have performed a study on 28 patients (20 with valve disease and eight with Eisenmenger syndrome) to evaluate the degree of pulmonary hypertension by means of continuous, pulsed and color Doppler, comparing these results with those obtained at cardiac catheterisation. Invasive systolic pulmonary pressure corresponded excellently with the transtricuspid gradient determined by continuous Doppler (r = 0.97). The study by pulsed Doppler of pulmonary artery flow enabled us to establish a good correlation between total pulmonary resistance with the quotient time to peak flow/ejection time and time to peak flow (r = 0.87 and r = -0.81), and between systolic pulmonary pressure and the time to peak flow (r = -0.80). Color Doppler enabled us to easily establish the presence of tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation.