title: [Evaluation of the systolic pressure of the right ventricle by echocardiographic study of left ventricular geometry].
abstract: Right ventricular systolic pressure is an important parameter in paediatric cardiology. A critical haemodynamic situation is attained if it exceeds the systemic pressure: strain proximal to severe pulmonary stenosis or the result of pulmonary hypertension. In these circumstances, the patient must be closely followed up at the least, and appropriate treatment, often surgical, has to be instituted. Ambulatory methods of assessing this parameter are either unreliable, like the surface electrocardiogram, or relatively complex, like certain ultrasonic methods. We therefore looked for a method relating the systolic pressures of the two ventricles and the end systolic geometry of the left ventricle as assessed simply from a short axis view of the left ventricle at the level of the junction between the chordae and papillary muscles. Two orthogonal diameters are measured and the ratio of the two dimensions calculated: this ratio which we call the "septal curvature" reflects left ventricular compression by the pressure that the right ventricle exerts through the interventricular septum. Seventy-two children aged 6 hours to 18 years (average 5.2 years) hospitalised for pre or post-operative investigation of congenital heart disease were evaluated by this method. The results were compared by statistical analysis with the ratio of ventricular pressures measured directly almost simultaneously during cardiac catheterisation. In general, a linear relation was observed between septal curvature (x) and ratio of pressures (y); y = 0.88, x - 0.63 and R = 0.92.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000503:physiopathology; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D011312:Pressure; D013599:Systole
vernacular_title: Estimation de la pression systolique du ventricule droit par l'étude échocardiographique de la géométrie ventriculaire gauche.