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Updated: Sep 14, 2025

Assessment of Right Ventricular Structure and Function in Mouse Model of Pulmonary Artery Constriction by Transthoracic Echocardiography
Published on: February 3, 2014
Echocardiographic evaluation of the pulmonary circulation and right ventricular functional unit during exercise and
Teresa John1, Tall Roschinsky, Philipp Douschan
1Division of Respiratory Medicine, Lung Research Cluster, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Purpose Of Review:
In this review, we provide an overview of the echocardiographic evaluation of the pulmonary circulation - right ventricular functional unit during exercise and its clinical value.
Recent Findings:
An increased understanding on the physiological response of pulmonary hemodynamics during exercise and evidence of the impact of an abnormal mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP)/cardiac output (CO) slope on survival led to the reintroduction of exercise pulmonary hypertension (EPH), defined as a mPAP/CO slope >3 mmHg/l/min, in the current European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society (ESC/ERS) guidelines for pulmonary hypertension. Additionally, noninvasive exercise echocardiography may enable easy and readily available assessment of pulmonary exercise hemodynamics.
Summary:
Impaired pulmonary exercise hemodynamics are considered early hemodynamic signs of cardiopulmonary disease. In order to diagnose EPH, exercise right heart catheterization (RHC) is needed, which is invasive, highly cost- and staff intensive and reserved to expert centers. Noninvasive surrogates derived from exercise echocardiography might be an appropriate alternative to invasive RHC.
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