title: Tissue Doppler Imaging in the evaluation of abdominal aortic pulsatility: a useful tool for the neonatologist.
abstract: Sonographic cardiac evaluation of newborns with suspected aortic coarctation (AoC) should tend to demonstrate a good phasic and pulsatile flow and the absence of pressure gradient along a normally conformed aortic arch from the modified left parasternal and suprasternal echocardiographic views; these findings, however, may not necessarily rule out a more distal coarctation in the descending aorta. For this reason, the sonographic exam of newborns with suspected AoC should always include a Doppler evaluation of abdominal aortic blood flow from the subcostal view. Occasionally, however, a clearly pulsatile Doppler flow trace in abdominal aorta may be difficult to obtain due to the bad insonation angle existing between the probe and the vessel. In such suboptimal ultrasonic alignment situation, the use of Tissue Doppler Imaging instead of classic Doppler flow imaging may reveal a preserved aortic pulsatility by sampling the aortic wall motion induced by normal flow. We propose to take advantage of the TDI pattern as a surrogate of a normal pulsatile Doppler flow trace in abdominal aorta when the latter is difficult to obtain due to malalignment with the insonated vessel.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Ospedale San Bortolo, Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Valerio
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Ospedale San Bortolo, Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grison
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Ospedale San Bortolo, Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capretta
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Ospedale San Bortolo, Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Golin
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Ospedale San Bortolo, Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferrarese
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Ospedale San Bortolo, Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bellettato
mesh_terms: D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001017:Aortic Coarctation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal; D000072156:Neonatologists; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Aortic coarctation; Echocardiography; Neonatology; Newborn; Pediatric cardiology; Tissue Doppler Imaging