[Estimation of the mean right atrial pressure using echocardiography]

The authors measured in a group of 30 patients invasively the pressure in the right atrium and at the same time or within 60 minutes the diameter of the interior vena cava and its changes in conjunction with respiration. They revealed a statistically significant relationship between all parameters of the diameter of the interior vena cava assessed by echocardiography and the mean right atrial pressure. The closest correlation was found in the index of the inspiration diameter of the inferior vena cava (p = 0.01; r = 0.824). A critical value of the index of the inspiration diameter of the inferior vena cava greater than or equal to 10 mm revealed patients with a pathologically elevated pressure in the right atrium with a 100% sensitivity and 88.9% specificity. Measurement of the diameter of the inferior vena cava and its respiratory variations is a suitable method for estimation of the mean right atrial pressure.