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Updated: Jul 25, 2025
Comprehensive Echocardiographic Assessment of Right Ventricle Function in a Rat Model of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Published on: January 20, 2023
Echocardiographic Characteristics of Pulmonary Artery Intimal Sarcoma: Comparison With CTPA
Wei Jiang1, Mingxi Liu2, Xiaojuan Guo2
1Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Beijing Chao Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Objectives:
This study examined the echocardiographic characteristics of patients with pulmonary artery intimal sarcoma (PAIS) and compared the results with those from computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA).
Method:
Twenty-six (26) patients were diagnosed with PAIS at the current institution during the study period, and 23 were eligible for analysis. Echocardiography and CTPA examinations were performed in all enrolled patients.
Results:
The echocardiography results showed that most lesions had expansive growth in the left pulmonary artery (PA); the right PA; or a combination of the left PA, right PA, and main PA, with extension to the pulmonary valve and/or right ventricular outflow tract. These lesions also had distinctive sieve-like echogenic signals. Echocardiography also showed that some lesions had lobulated shapes, were nearly round and echolucent or with calcifications, and moved during imaging. The lesion distribution was similar in CTPA and echocardiography (p=0.361), but CTPA was more sensitive in detection of the complete shape (p=0.023).
Conclusions:
The unique echocardiographic characteristics of PAIS, especially the "sieve sign", could help in the diagnosis of this cancer. Transthoracic echocardiography is a non-invasive technique that appears effective in detecting PAIS.
