title: [Diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension by pulsed Doppler echocardiography--comparison with cardiac catheterization].
abstract: 31 patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization for suspected congenital heart disease and 30 normal subjects were examined by pulsed Doppler echocardiography. Spectrum analysis of the shape of flow velocity curve and instantaneous flow velocities of the pulmonary artery during systolic period was made and their ratio calculated. The results showed that there was a remarkable difference between the flow velocity curve of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and that of normal pulmonary pressure. Combining with the characteristics of pulmonary arterial hemodynamics, a preliminary exploration was made on the mechanism of flow velocity curve changes. A ratio of flow velocities--PV% was proposed. The sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing PH with PV% were 94% and 100% respectively. There was a high correlation between PV% and pulmonary artery systolic pressure (r = -0.84) or pulmonary artery mean pressure (r = -0.82). It is concluded that PV% may eliminate many factors that influence the pulmonary artery hemodynamics and is a reliable, practical qualitative and quantitative index for diagnosing PH noninvasively.
authors.forename: Z M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male