Grading of left-to-right shunting ductus arteriosus in neonates with bedside pulsed Doppler ultrasound.
A nonimaging pulsed Doppler technique was used to grade the magnitude of flow in left-to-right shunting ductus arteriosus. The results were compared with those obtained with a color Doppler flow mapping technique. The correlation between the grading results by these two methods was 0.91 (p less than 0.01). To determine hemodynamic influence of left-to-right shunting ductal flow, simultaneous measurements of Doppler-derived cardiac output were done. Results showed significantly higher cardiac output in infants with grade III shunting than in infants with grade 0 and grade I shunting. The nonimaging pulsed Doppler ultrasound technique used in the present study proved to be a clinically useful and accurate grading system of left-to-right shunting at the ductal level. The simple grading system with nonimaging Doppler is a valuable adjunct to the color Doppler flow mapping technique. It allows a regular evaluation of ductal flow as well as cardiac output.
Hirsimäki
H
H
Department of Pediatrics, University of Turku, Finland.
Kero
P
P
Saraste
M
M
Ekblad
H
H
Korvenranta
H
H
Wanne
O
O
D002302:Cardiac Output; D004374:Ductus Arteriosus, Patent / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009991:Oscillometry; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods