Noninvasive evaluation of left-to-right shunts by pulsed Doppler echocardiography

The systemic and pulmonary blood flows and the ratio of pulmonary to systemic flow were noninvasively evaluated by pulsed Doppler echocardiography in 25 children with left-to-right shunts. Fourteen patients had atrial septal defect and 11 had ventricular septal defect. In patients with atrial septal defect, right ventricular stroke volume was obtained from the recordings of mean velocity flow and the diameter at the level of pulmonary valve in short-axis view. The left ventricular stroke volume was evaluated from the suprasternal approach by positioning the sample volume within the ascending aorta just above the valvar leaflets. In children with ventricular septal defect, the pulmonary blood flow was determined at the level of the mitral orifice, whereas the systemic blood flow was estimated from the ascending aorta. The systemic and pulmonary blood flows and their ratio determined by pulsed Doppler echocardiography in the 25 patients examined, were compared using simple linear regression analysis with the results obtained by cardiac catheterization. The ratio of pulmonary-to-systemic flow showed an excellent correlation in patients with atrial septal defect (r = 0.82) and in those with ventricular septal defect (r = 0.79). Our study validates the accuracy of cross-sectional Doppler echocardiography, especially for minimizing some possibility of errors in the presence of left-to-right shunts by employing new approaches.