Effects of hemodynamics on global and regional lung perfusion: a quantitative lung perfusion study by magnetic resonance imaging.
BACKGROUND
Cardiac hemodynamics affect pulmonary vascular pressure and flow, but little is known of the effects of hemodynamics on lung perfusion at the tissue level. We sought to investigate the relationship between hemodynamic abnormalities in patients with left heart failure and global and regional lung perfusion using lung perfusion quantification by magnetic resonance imaging.


RESULTS
Lung perfusion was quantified in 10 normal subjects and 28 patients undergoing clinically indicated left and right heart catheterization and same day research cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. A total of 228 lung slices were evaluated. Global lung perfusion, determined as the average of 6 coronal lung slices through the anterior, mid, and posterior left and right lungs, was significantly lower in patients with reduced cardiac index (<2.5 L/min per m(2)): 94±30 mL/100 mL per minute versus 132±40 mL/100 mL per minute in those with preserved cardiac index (≥2.5 L/min per m(2); P=0.003). The gravitational anterior to posterior perfusion gradient was inversely associated with left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (r=-0.728; P<0.001), resulting in a blunted perfusion gradient in patients with elevated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, a finding largely attributed to the perfusion reduction in posterior lung regions. In a multivariate regression analysis adjusting for all hemodynamic variables, altered lung perfusion gradient was most closely associated with increased mean pulmonary arterial pressure (P=0.016).


CONCLUSIONS
Increased left ventricular filling pressure and the resultant increase in pulmonary arterial pressure are associated with disruption of the normal gravitational lung perfusion gradient. Our findings underscore the complexity of heart-lung interaction in determining pulmonary hemodynamics in left heart failure.
St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn, NY 11576, USA. Jane.Cao@chsli.org
Jie J
JJ
Cao
Yi
Y
Wang
Jeannette
J
McLaughlin
Peter
P
Rhee
Michael
M
Passick
Nora
N
Ngai
Joshua
J
Cheng
Ronald J
RJ
Gulotta
Andrew D
AD
Berke
George A
GA
Petrossian
Nathaniel
N
Reichek
D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation