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Quantitative echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular function in critically ill obstetric patients: a
R Rokey1, M A Belfort, G R Saade
1Department of Cardiology, Marshfield Clinic, Wisconsin, USA.
Objective:
Our purpose was to compare different echocardiographic methods to quantitate maternal ventricular function.
Study Design:
Eleven critically ill obstetric patients requiring invasive monitoring and M-mode and two-dimensional Doppler echocardiographic studies were retrospectively studied. Ventricular volumes and ejection fraction derived from multiple methods were computed and compared with analysis of variance and Newman-Keuls tests.
Results:
Two M-mode studies could not be analyzed. M-mode and two-dimensional estimates of stroke volume were similar to the previously validated Doppler stroke volume values of these 11 patients. End-diastolic volume estimates were similar. There was no difference in ejection fraction for the five different two-dimensional Doppler methods used (66%, 66%, 67%, 63%, and 63%).
Conclusion:
Left ventricular function is reliably calculated in pregnant women by a number of different echocardiographic techniques. The ability to combine echocardiographic techniques is helpful when any single method does not provide all of the information required.