title: Clinical Utility of Echocardiography for the Diagnosis and Prognosis in Children with Bronchopulmonary Dsyplasia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) may result in chronic pulmonary artery hypertension and right ventricular (RV) dysfunction. Various echocardiographic assessments of RV dysfunction have been used to determine whether echocardiographic measurements of premature infants with BPD could provide sensitive measures of RV function that correlates with BPD severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-eight control subjects without BPD (non BPD group), 28 patients with mild BPD, 11 patients with moderate BPD, and six patients with severe BPD underwent echocardiograms with standard measurement such as ejection fraction by M-mode, tricuspid regurgitation pressure gradient, myocardial performance index (MPI) derived from pulse Doppler, and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) measurements. BPD severity was classified by the NICHD/NHLBI/ORD workshop rating scale. Twenty-eight control subjects without BPD (non BPD group), 28 patients with mild BPD, 11 patients with moderate BPD, and six patients with severe BPD underwent echocardiograms with standard measurement such as ejection fraction by M-mode, tricuspid regurgitation pressure gradient, myocardial performance index (MPI) derived from pulse Doppler, and TDI measurements. BPD severity was classified by the NICHD/NHLBI/ORD workshop rating scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  None of the standard echocardiographic findings was significantly different between the control group and BPD groups. However, mean septal TDI-MPI of the severe BPD group (0.68 ± 0.06) was significantly (p< 0.01) higher than that of the non-BPD (0.58 ± 0.10) or the mild BPD group (0.59 ± 0.12). In addition, mean RV TDI-MPI of the severe BPD group (0.71 ± 0.13) was significantly (p< 0.05) higher than that of the non-BPD group (0.56 ± 0.08) or the mild BPD group (0.60 ± 0.125). Linear regression showed a good correlation between the severity of BPD and RV TDI-MPI (p= 0.01, R = 0.30) or septal TDI-MPI (p= 0.04, R = 0.24).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Echocardiographic evaluation of RV function based on an assessment of RV TDI-MPI can provide RV dysfunction parameter in premature infants with BPD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Earl
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Hwa Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Song
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: In Seok
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: The Heart Center of Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School and The Research Institute of Medical Sciences of Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Namsik
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Youn
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, KS Hospital, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Sook
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Kuk
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cho
keywords: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia; Echocardiography; Right ventricular function