title: Plasma endothelin-1 in patients with left-to-right shunt.
abstract: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of pulmonary vascular disease in patients with congenital heart disease. We studied the effect of pulmonary blood flow on plasma ET-1 concentrations. Systemic venous, pulmonary arterial, and pulmonary venous blood samples were obtained from 40 patients with atrial septal defect II (n = 21), ventricular septal defect (n = 10), persistent ductus arteriosus (n = 6), and complete (n = 2) and partial (n = 1) atrioventricular canal at cardiac catheterization and analyzed by radioimmunoassay. Median age (range) was 5.2 years (8 months to 66 years), and the resistance ratio (Rp/Rs) was 0.08 (0.03 to 0.67). Pulmonary vein to pulmonary artery ET-1 ratio in patients with "high flow" (n = 26, Qp/Qs > or = 1.5; ET-1 ratio = 0.8) did not differ from those with "low flow" (n = 14, Qp/Qs < 1.5; ET-1 ratio = 1.0). We conclude that an increase in pulmonary blood flow alone does not result in an increase in plasma ET-1.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Rudolf Virchow Medical Centre, Free University of Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gorenflo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bodey
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brockmeier
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bein
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Lange
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004374:Ductus Arteriosus, Patent / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016232:Endothelins / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006343:Heart Septal Defects / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D016232:Endothelins