title: Echocardiographic assessment of pulmonary arterial pressure in children with complete right bundle branch block.
abstract: The time interval between tricuspid valve closure and pulmonary valve opening, termed the isovolumic contraction time of the right ventricle, was evaluated echographically in 38 normal children and within 24 hours of cardiac catheterization in 53 children with congenital heart disease and normal conduction as assessed with the electrocardiogram. In the 53 patients with congenital heart disease, isovolumic contraction time was strongly influenced by right ventricular afterload, as defined by pulmonary arterial end-diastolic pressure (r = 0.87). It was possible to utilize isovolumic contraction time to separate patients with normal or elevated values for pulmonary arterial end-diastolic pressure. Similar correlations were demonstrated between isovolumic contraction time and mean pulmonary arterial pressure and calculated pulmonary vascular resistance. Evaluation of 15 children with complete right bundle branch block revealed values for isovolumic contraction time that did not significantly differ from those of patients with similar pulmonary arterial end-diastolic pressure but no conduction abnormalities. These findings indicate that serial echographic evaluation of the interval from tricuspid valve closure to pulmonary valve opening can give an accurate reproducible assessment of right ventricular afterload in many children with congenital heart disease and complete right bundle branch block
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002037:Bundle-Branch Block / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D011651:Pulmonary Artery; D013997:Time Factors