title: Does inferior vena cava size predict right atrial pressures in patients receiving mechanical ventilation?
abstract: The inferior vena cava diameter and its respiratory response are used to estimate right atrial pressures in spontaneously breathing patients but its value in patients receiving mechanical ventilation is unvalidated. Forty-nine patients undergoing mechanical ventilation were prospectively evaluated in the intensive or coronary care units with two-dimensional echocardiography of the inferior vena cava and simultaneous measurements of mean right atrial pressures by central venous or pulmonary artery catheter. Correlation between inferior vena cava diameter at expiration and mean right atrial pressure was only 0.58. The correlation between inspiratory change in inferior vena cava diameter and mean right atrial pressure was poor (r = 0.13). Despite these correlations, an inferior vena cava diameter of < or = 12 mm predicted a right atrial pressure of 10 mm Hg or less 100% of the time, but sensitivity was only 25%. An inferior vena cava diameter > 12 mm had no predictive value for right atrial pressure.
authors: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Jue
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Chung
authors: N B
authors: NB
authors: Schiller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016280:Atrial Function, Right; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011312:Pressure; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012119:Respiration; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*