Extraction of pulmonary vascular compliance, pulmonary vascular resistance, and right ventricular work from single-pressure and Doppler flow measurements in children with pulmonary hypertension: a new method for evaluating reactivity: in vitro and clinical studies.
BACKGROUND
Current evaluation of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in children involves measurement of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR); however, PVR neglects important pulsatile components. Pulmonary artery (PA) input impedance and ventricular power (VP) include mean and pulsatile effects and have shown promise as alternative measures of vascular function. Here we report the utility of pulsed-wave (PW) Doppler-measured instantaneous flow and pressure measurements for estimation of input impedance and VP and use this method to develop a novel parameter: reactivity in compliance.


RESULTS
An in vitro model of the general pulmonary vasculature was used to obtain impedance and VP, measured by PW Doppler and a reference flow meter. The method was then tested in a preliminary clinical study in subjects with normal PA hemodynamics (n=4) and patients with PH undergoing reactivity evaluation (8 patients; 23 data points). In vitro results showed good agreement between the impedance spectra computed from both flow-measurement methods. Excellent correlation was seen in vitro between actual resistance and the zero-frequency (Z(o)) impedance value (r2=0.984). Excellent agreement was also found between Z(o) and PVR in the clinical measurements (y=1.075x+0.73; r=0.993). Furthermore, total VP and VP/cardiac output increased significantly with hypertension (128.73 to 365.91 mW and 2.42 to 6.69 mW x mL(-1) x s(-1), respectively). The first-harmonic value of impedance (Z1) was used as a measure of compliance reactivity; older patients exhibited markedly less compliance reactivity than did younger patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Input impedance and VP calculated from Doppler measurements and a single-catheter pressure measurement provide comprehensive characterization of PH and reactivity.
Weinberg
Craig E
CE
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.
Hertzberg
Jean R
JR
Ivy
D Dunbar
DD
Kirby
K Scott
KS
Chan
K Chen
KC
Valdes-Cruz
Lilliam
L
Shandas
Robin
R
D000293:Adolescent; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003187:Compliance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000379:methods*; D014655:Vascular Resistance; D016278:Ventricular Function, Right