Influence of gravity on pulmonary venous flow velocity patterns: analysis of left and right pulmonary venous flow velocities in left and right decubitus positions.
BACKGROUND
The pulmonary venous flow signal measured by transesophageal echocardiography is generally recorded from the left upper pulmonary vein in the left lateral decubitus position, whereas that by transthoracic echocardiography is from the right upper pulmonary vein in the left semi-lateral decubitus position. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of the postural change on the peak flow velocities of the left and right pulmonary veins and whether the parameters of the left and right pulmonary venous flow can be used interchangeably.


RESULTS
The study group consisted of 37 patients with normal left ventricular filling pressure and in whom the systolic forward flow signals from both pulmonary veins recorded in the left and right lateral decubitus positions were clear enough to differentiate as biphasic. The peak early systolic (peak S1) and diastolic velocities were significantly increased when the pulmonary vein was on the recumbent subject's upper side, whereas the peak late systolic velocity (peak S2) was significantly increased when the pulmonary vein was on the recumbent subject's lower side. The peak S1 was higher than the peak S2 when the pulmonary vein was on the recumbent subject's upper side, whereas the reverse relation was seen when the pulmonary vein was on the recumbent subject's lower side.


CONCLUSIONS
We should take into consideration the body position and the side on which the pulmonary vein is situated in evaluating the peak flow velocities of the pulmonary veins.
Department of Cardiology, Tenri Hospital, Tenri-city, Nara, Japan.
C
C
Izumi
K
K
Iga
Y
Y
Himura
H
H
Gen
T
T
Konishi
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology; D003971:Diastole; D004452:Echocardiography; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D006112:Gravitation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D016683:Supine Position / Q000502:physiology; D013599:Systole; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology; D017725:Ventricular Pressure / Q000502:physiology