Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 12, 2026
Increasing Pulmonary Artery Pulsatile Flow Improves Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension in Piglets
Published on: May 11, 2015
[Quantitative assessment of pulmonary blood flow by echocardiography in patients with congenital heart defect]
Zheng-rong Xu1, Xin-sheng Huang, Yi-gao Huang
1Department of Cardiovascular Disease, Baoan People' Hospital of Shenzhen, Baoan Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518101, China. xzr206@163.com
Insights
Echocardiography reliably quantifies pulmonary blood flow in congenital heart disease (CHD) patients. This noninvasive method, measuring pulmonary venous flow, shows high correlation with traditional catheterization techniques.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical Imaging
- Pediatric Medicine
Background:
- Congenital heart disease (CHD) necessitates accurate pulmonary blood flow assessment.
- Current methods for evaluating pulmonary blood flow can be invasive.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the feasibility and accuracy of echocardiography for quantifying pulmonary blood flow in CHD patients.
- To establish echocardiography as a reliable noninvasive tool for this evaluation.
Main Methods:
- Echocardiographic assessment of pulmonary venous blood flow velocity time integral (VTI) in 64 patients with atrial septal defect (ASD).
- Comparison of VTI measurements with pulmonary blood flow (Qp) determined by the Fick method via right heart catheterization.
Main Results:
- A strong correlation was observed between transthoracic echocardiography-derived VTI and Qp.
- Pulmonary venous flow spectrum analysis by echocardiography proved informative.
Conclusions:
- Echocardiography is a potentially valuable noninvasive technique for evaluating pulmonary blood flow in CHD.
- This imaging modality offers a reliable alternative to invasive assessments.
Objective:
To explore the possibility and reliability of echocardiography in quantitative evaluation of pulmonary blood flow in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD).
Methods:
Sixty-four patients with left to right shunt congenital atrial septal defect (ASD) underwent echocardiographic examinations of the right upper and lower pulmonary vein blood flow spectrum in the four-chamber face, and the right upper pulmonary vein flow velocity time integral (VTIrupv) and right inferior pulmonary venous flow velocity time integral (VTIrlpv) were calculated according to the heart rate. The VTIrupv and VTIrlpv were compared with the pulmonary blood flow (Qp) calculated by Fick method with right heart catheterization.
Results:
There was a high correlation between the right lung vein flow velocity time integral measured by the catheter of transthoracic echocardiography and Qp.
Conclusion:
The pulmonary venous flow spectrum measured by echocardiography can be informative of the pulmonary blood flow in patients with CHD. Echocardiography may serve as a potential noninvasive technique to evaluate pulmonary blood flow in these patients.
Related Concept Videos
01:20Imaging Studies for Cardiovascular System II:Types of Echocardiography
Types of Echocardiography
Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE)
TTE is the most common type of echocardiogram which involves placing a transducer on the patient's chest, emitting sound waves to create heart images. TTE is invaluable for evaluating the heart's size, structure, and motion, making it particularly useful for diagnosing...
01:17Imaging Studies for Cardiovascular System I:Echocardiography
Indications: Echocardiography is utilized to diagnose heart failure, valve disorders, and myocardial infarction. It also assesses cardiac structures' size, shape, and motion, evaluates...